As expected, the Satanic Temple has filed suit against both Netflixand Warner Bros. over imagery they say was "misappropriated" in the new seriesChilling Adventures of Sabrina.
"Defendants misappropriated the TST Baphomet Children in ways implying that the monument stands for evil," the Satanic Temple states in the suit, which was excerpted by The Wrap in a report published Thursday. "Among other morally repugnant actions, the Sabrina Series' evil antagonists engage in cannibalism and forced-worship of a patriarchal deity."
The Satanic Temple, not to be confused with Anton LaVey's Church of Satan, says this is a combined case of copyright infringement, trademark violation, and injury to reputation. The Temple is asking for "$50 million for each, and a total of $150 million in damages" in the suit.
In a previous statement on the series' use of the Baphomet statue, the Satanic Temple affirmed that—even if involved parties had reached out about using the symbol in the series—they would have declined due to misrepresentation. "Not only does it contradict what Baphomet represents, we owe it to those who identify with us to not allow this image, and by extension them, to be represented in this way," a rep said in a statement posted last week.
Despite what your bible-thumpingest acquaintances would have you believe, the Satanic Temple (like the Church of Satan, though there is no affiliation) is built upon an atheistic framework. This means that Satan is used metaphorically. With the Satanic Temple specifically, this means the following:
To embrace the name Satan is to embrace rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions. The Satanist should actively work to hone critical thinking and exercise reasonable agnosticism in all things. Our beliefs must be malleable to the best current scientific understandings of the material world—never the reverse.
So, yeah, no wonder they're fucking pissed about Sabrina.
