'Normal People': Irish bishop blames sex scenes, full-frontal nudity for coronavirus pandemic
There have been many odd theories about what caused the current coronavirus pandemic. Some blame 5G technology for causing the pandemic, while some think the virus was cooked up in labs as biological warfare. However, one Irish bishop has an entirely different theory and it has got all to do with Hulu's and BBC's joint adaptation of Sally Rooney's novel, 'Normal People'.
While the other theories have been widely debunked, we hope Archbishop Michael Cox of the breakaway Tridentine wing of the Catholic Church is soon informed about the fallacies of his theory.
'Normal People', the adaptation, first landed on BBC on April 26 and on Hulu on April 29. Since then, the show has found many viewers, among them, Kourtney Kardashian is also a fan. The show has been lauded for its portrayal of sex and mental health and has been termed BBC's raunchiest show with “41 minutes and 15 seconds of bedroom action."
Actors Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones were helped by intimacy coach, Ita O'Brien, through their scenes which also feature full-frontal nudity -- the main thing Bishop Cox has an issue with.
He spoke to The Irish Sun and said that Irish broadcaster, RTE, must stop airing the show, while the show is available for streaming in the US and the UK, RTE is airing the show weekly on its network.
Bishop Cox said, "It will be an outrage if RTE go ahead and transmit this. Morally it is wrong. Showing a grown man fully naked on TV? It would offend any right-minded human being. Young teenagers will be watching this, even married couples in their own homes. It is outrageous and it should be stopped."
Bishop Cox is known for carrying out an "exorcism" of RTE at the gates of their Donnybrook HQ in the 1980s. He said, "I perform exorcisms. It worked. All RTE’s equipment went haywire and Gerry Ryan was sick as a dog for three days. But he later forgave me, and we became good friends.”
The 75-year-old bishop claims that RTE is using the license fee to further lower the morals of the country by transmitting sexual content in 'Normal People'. He said, “This is improper. This is [blasphemous] to almighty God."
He added, "I’m not surprised we have Covid-19 with this sort of stuff on TV. Do I think that these outrages are responsible for the Coronavirus? I think people should read the Bible and find out."
Of course, fans are mocking the bishop's over-the-top warnings. One fan tweeted, "Bishop here shocked, horrified, that even married people in their own homes might see full-frontal nudity," while another wrote, "Very amusing how people are imagining that #NormalPeople is groundbreaking because one fella rang #liveline about it and a publicity-mad guy who calls himself a Bishop is giving out. There’s nothing so Irish as challenging non-existent taboos."
One user noted, "Of course a Catholic Bishop found the depictions of sex in #NormalPeople as off-putting. Like all Catholic priests, he finds the notion of consent very hard to grasp." Another tweeted, " The bishops are out with their croziers! Anyone would think this was the old #Ireland where #LGBTQ people were playing with the fairies and comely maidens were dancing at the crossroads!"
One fan joked, "Sally Rooney watching on as Irish bishops and moral panickers express outrage over televised consensual sex #NormalPeople."
Of course, as one viewer pointed out, "The sex scenes in #NormalPeople are getting a lot of attention for being pornographic but in reality, all they've done is finally show a level of male nudity that's equal to how women have been shown on TV/film for years. You didn't think that was too pornographic."
If you are in the US, 'Normal People' is streaming on Hulu. In the UK it is streaming on BBC iPlayer.