Fox News' Bill O'Reilly is furious about bad reviews slamming the National Geographic movie of his best-selling book, "Killing Jesus," and believes they are an attack on Christianity.
On Monday's "The O'Reilly Factor," O'Reilly said, "The truth is, it is open season on Christians in America, and faith is not held in high esteem in the halls of Manhattan media operations,"
Salon.com reported.
Media Matters posted a clip of the show.
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Critics have slammed both the book and the movie for historical inaccuracy, with the Boston Globe calling it "a shallow telling of the Jesus story, with no more distinction than you might find in the generic reenactments of some historical documentary."
The Guardian added, "O’Reilly’s telling takes as fact a number of time-worn myths that have been repeatedly disavowed by scholars."
TV viewers apparently disagreed. When it premiered on National Geographic on Sunday night, "Killing Jesus" became the network's most-watched show ever, with 3.7 million tuning in,
Deadline Hollywood reported.
In fact, it topped its nearest competition, two other movies based on O'Reilly's "Killing" series, "Killing Kennedy" which had 3.4 million viewers when it premiered in November, 2013, and "Killing Lincoln," which clocked 3.35 million viewers in February, 2013, Deadline Hollywood noted.
Nonetheless, conservative pundit O'Reilly considers his critics' blasting of the film to be blatant left-wing religious discrimination.
"A movie like 'Killing Jesus' is a noble endeavor, even if you didn’t like it, even though some conservatives didn’t like it either," he said on "The O'Reilly Factor."
"But to see what actually happened to a good man, Jesus, who preached loving your neighbor and loving God above all, to see how he was abused and murdered historically, right before your eyes, is a powerful use of the motion picture concept.
"Judeo-Christian tradition is under assault — there’s no question about that. Here in America, we often see Christians marginalized, mocked, portrayed as bigots and human rights abusers. It’s time to push back on that. 'Killing Jesus' may have opened some eyes in that arena, and the left doesn’t like that at all."
The book, co-authored by O'Reilly with Martin Dugard, hit the best-seller lists and the movie, which was filmed in Morocco, starred Kelsey Grammer as King Herod, Stephen Moyer as Pontius Pilate and Haaz Sleiman, a Muslim, as Jesus.
The Guardian said, "Much is being made of the show casting a young Muslim actor of Middle Eastern descent as Jesus, possibly in hopes of avoiding charges of Christian bias, or as a way of emphasizing the human qualities of Jesus."
The film will air in 171 countries, and will repeat at 8 p.m. both Friday and Easter Sunday on Fox News, Deadline Hollywood reported.
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