Actor Rainn Wilson of The Office fame Noted the apparent anti-Christian bias in Hollywood on his Twitter account over the weekend. Wilson, who played the eccentric ‘Dwight’ character in The Office, used a scene from HBO’s The Last of Us as the most recent example of the bias.
Try Paramount+ FREE for a week. Subscribe here to watch your favorite shows.
“I do think there is an anti-Christian bias in Hollywood. As soon as the David character in ‘The Last of Us’ started reading from the Bible I knew that he was going to be a horrific villain. Could there be a Bible-reading preacher on a show who is actually loving and kind?” Wilson tweeted.
In the show, which is based off of a video game with the same name, the preacher leads a group of violent cannibals, quoting Bible verses as his justification for chaos. In a later scene, the preacher also tries to rape the series protagonist, Ellie, a young child.
Wilson, a follower of the Baha’i faith, himself, is likely commenting more on the predictability of Hollywood storytelling than the scruples of the Bible. But regardless of intent, many social media users agreed with him, arguing that the decisions made in Hollywood are done in bad faith.
Rainn Wilson is an outspoken supporter of many ‘leftist’ causes, as well
Wilson’s own spirituality doesn’t necessarily mean he aligns with traditional political viewpoints of the religious right. Last November, he announced efforts to change his name on social media platforms to ‘Rainnfall Heat Wave Extreme Winter Wilson’ in an effort to promote climate change activism.
“I’m hoping this name change brings attention to this growing … er, melting issue. We need world leaders at COP27 to take notice and take action. The Arctic is melting at millions of liters per second, yet this problem can’t seem to make a name for itself, so it’s up to us to make a name for it,” Wilson added.
The perceived Hollywood agenda against pro-Christian content deserves a closer look, though, considering that Christian audiences often show up in droves for any family-friendly productions. Outspoken Christian producer Roma Downey of Touched By an Angel fame said her huge audience probably “surprised” some folks in Hollywood, but not Christians.
“I don’t think it surprised Christian people,” she said. “We don’t usually get served that much content that really speaks to our hearts in that direct kind of way. There are believers in every community, in every street, in every city, across this great nation of ours.”
As for a reboot of Angel, Downey says it’s unlikely given the death of her costars over the years; but she would love to see a show that adheres to the same spirit.
“Over the years I’ve gone in a few times to CBS and asked about a reboot,” Downey said. “Of course in the interim, sadly we lost both Della Reese, my co-star Tess, and John Dye, who played the Angel of Death. But I would love to see something like that, or in the spirit of, back on TV.”