A Manhattan man is suing the Metropolitan Museum of Art, saying “racist” paintings depicting a blond Jesus make him feel “rejected” and “unaccepted by society.”
Here’s to hoping the lawsuit will be rejected and unaccepted by society. And then somebody give this guy a hug. I think someone’s a little cranky.
The masterpieces are “offensive aesthetic whitewashing” of the reality that the Savior, as a native of the Middle Eastern region, had “black hair like wool and skin of bronze color,” says Joseph, 33, who is acting as his own lawyer.
He says he suffered “personal stress” after viewing “The Holy Family with Angels” by Sebastiano Ricci; “The Resurrection” by Perugino; “The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes” by Tintoretto; and “The Crucifixion” by Francesco Granacci.
They are especially offensive to him, he claims, because he himself has “black hair like wool and skin of bronze color.”
“The implication that someone who possesses physical features like the plaintiff could not be the important historical and public figure of Jesus Christ . . . caused the plaintiff to feel, among other things, rejected and unaccepted by society,” court papers say.
Well, it seems to me that Jesus was rejected and unaccepted by society so maybe he should embrace that. Actually, I’m thinking this guy feels rejected and unaccepted by society for lots of other reasons that have nothing to do with these paintings.
The Met did admirably not back down. A spokesperson for the museum said, “When they were painted, it was typical for artists to depict subjects with the same identity as the local audience.”
If this were a college, the paintings would be burnt up and discarded and there would be free counselors at the ready for students who felt rejected and unaccepted.
