The BBC was set to go ahead Saturday night with a British television screening of a controversial musical despite a record 45,000 letters and calls of complaint because of its foul-mouthed script and perceived blasphemy. Called "Jerry Springer - The Opera," starring David Soul as famous US talk show host Jerry Springer, it is thought to be the most expletive-laden programme ever shown on British television.
It includes tap-dancing members of the American racist Ku Klux Klan, and a scene in which a nappy-wearing Jesus Christ admits he is "a bit gay".
The BBC has received a record 45,000 written and telephoned complaints, while 7,000 objections have been lodged with the British broadcasting complaints authority Ofcom.
These figures far outstrip complaints after the 1995 screening of the controversial Hollywood movie "The Last Temptation of Christ," directed by Martin Scorsese, which prompted 1,554 complaints.
Defending its programming, the BBC said the show would go out at 10pm (22H00 GMT) and denied it contained 8,000 obscenities, as claimed by critics, saying there were only 300.
BBC Director-General Mark Thompson said he was a practising Christian and did not find anything blasphemous in the show.
Stephen Green of the religious group Christian Voice, said: "I find it astonishing that Mark Thompson and David Soul claim they are Christians and they can see nothing wrong with Jerry Springer the Opera.
"Do they use the language in it at home? Do they really not find an obese Jesus wandering on dressed in a nappy with his arms outstretched in a mockery of the crucifixion saying 'I feel a bit gay' blasphemous?" "What kind of Christians are the sort of people who find mocking God and Jesus Christ acceptable?"
"If this show portrayed Mohammed or Vishnu as homosexual, ridiculous and ineffectual, it would never have seen the light of day."
Michael Ancram, deputy leader of the opposition Conservative Party, said on the BBC: "I ask the question about the motives of the BBC in putting this on What they are trying to do is to get people to watch it because they think it is going to shock them. I don't think it is the duty of the BBC to do that."
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