Chocolate Jesus Exhibit Cancelled

Did you hear that a six-foot, nude chocolate Jesus Christ without loin cloth won’t be shown in New York City this week due to an angry uproar from offended Catholics?

Yeah, this has to be one of oddest stories I’ve heard lately.

When word spread that the confectionary Christ — with all his private parts uncovered — was to be displayed, Catholics, including Cardinal Edward Egan, cancelled the exhibit at the Roger Smith Hotel in midtown Manhattan. Then, after the show was shut down, Matt Semler, the gallery’s creative director, submitted his resignation, the Associated Press reports.

The whole idea of an immodest Christ being displayed during Holy Week riled up people, who flooded the art gallery with angry e-mails and phone calls, reportedly including death threats over the work of artist Cosimo Cavallaro.

Bill Donohue, head of the watchdog Catholic League, called the chocolate statue "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever," according to the AP. "It’s not just the ugliness of the portrayal, but the timing — to choose Holy Week is astounding," he said.

Although Cavallaro is known for quirky food art, this one has to be one of the strangest he’s undertaken — and certainly the one that most offended people. Past pieces, according to the AP, included "repainting a Manhattan hotel room in melted mozzarella, spraying five tons of pepper jack cheese on a Wyoming home, and festooning a four-poster bed with 312 pounds of processed ham."

I guess I’m baffled as to why the artist would even contemplate such a statue. How could he not know that it would cause an outrage?