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Easter Bunny, Meet Chocolate Jesus
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 30, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 30, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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A six-foot tall chocolate sculpture of Jesus which will be displayed at a Midtown hotel next week is stirring up controversy. Catholics are calling Cosimo Cavallaro's "My Sweet Lord" an "all-out war on Christianity."
The sculpture is supposed to be installed in a window at the Roger Smith Hotel's gallery, The Lab, on East 47th Street and Lexington Avenue. Cavallaro claims that the Easter-timing was a coincidence, and besides, this isn't his first chocolate Jesus. Per the Daily News, "Cavallaro said he crafted his first chocolate Christ in 2005, but a series of events, including the death of Pope John Paul II, kept it from being displayed."
While the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights's Bill Donohue says, "They wouldn't show a depiction of Martin Luther King Jr. with genitals exposed on Martin Luther King Day, and they wouldn't show Muhammed depicted this way during Ramadan. It's always Christians, and the timing is deliberate," some people aren't as bothered - they just rather him not be nude.
The Lab's director Matt Semler told the AP that Donohue's vitriol was a "Catholic fatwa" (Donohue recommended boycotting the hotel) and that the gallery was thinking about its plan: "We're obviously surprised by the overwhelming response and offense people have taken. We are certainly in the process of trying to figure out what we're going to do next."
Check out Cavallaro's website - he has also worked with cheese and ham.
Update, or BREAKING: CHOCOLATE JESUS MAY BE CRUCIFIED: Forgotten NY's Kevin Walsh sent us this link: According to Fox News, My Sweet Lord's appearance at The Lab has been canceled. We're trying to confirm this, but if anyone else knows, tell us!
Photographs by Mary Altaffer/AP
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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