Sabrina Spellman spent the better part of the first season of “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” in trouble with the fictional Dark Lord — and now she’s getting heat from the real-life Satanic Temple.
Netflix’s TV adaptation of the Archie Comics character has caught the eye of the Temple’s co-founder, Lucien Greaves, for “appropriating” his organization’s copyrighted design of the monument to Baphomet. He is now threatening to take “legal action” against the streamer.
The statue is shown in multiple scenes while the teen witch (played by Kiernan Shipka) attends the Academy of Unseen Arts, a magical school that teaches the way of the Dark Lord aka the show’s version of Satan.
You can see a shot of the monument — placed inside the fictional academy — below:
Netflix
“Yes, we are taking legal action regarding #TheChillingAdventuresofSabrina appropriating our copyrighted monument design to promote their asinine Satanic Panic fiction,” Greaves tweeted Sunday.
Greaves said in a statement to TheWrap on Tuesday that “we’ve sent [Netflix] a letter from our lawyers informing them of the copyright violation, asking them to take our imagery out of their show.”
In an interview with SFGate published on Monday, Greaves said, “It’s deeply problematic to us. [But] even if that wasn’t the case we’d be obligated to make a copyright claim because that’s how copyright works.”
Greaves told SFGate he thinks “Sabrina” depicts its image of Baphomet as “evil,” which could have a negative effect on his group.
“I feel that the use of our particular image that is recognized as our own central icon [being] displayed fictionally as central to some cannibalistic cult has real world damaging effects for us,” he said.
“I want them to take it out,” he added. “It looks like it’s a CGI facsimile to begin with. I don’t know how much work that takes, but I simply refuse to have our monument used in this way in perpetuity. I don’t want our monument to be associated with this.”
Netflix did not immediately respond to TheWrap‘s request for comment.
See Greaves’ tweets about the matter below.
Yes, we are taking legal action regarding #TheChillingAdventuresofSabrina appropriating our copyrighted monument design to promote their asinine Satanic Panic fiction.
I'm not sure why this was tweeted at me, but the writer/director for Sabrina apparently feels that the "struggle for justice" allows for their show to appropriate our intellectual property. https://t.co/4wNmdjlAaX
I'm amazed that anybody is confused as to why we would seek legal remedy over Sabrina using our monument. Would they be as understanding of a fictional show that used a real mosque as the HQ of a terrorist cell? A fictional Blood Libel tale implicating real world Jews?
“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” Season 1 is available for streaming on Netflix.
'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' Season 1 Photos: Check Out Harvey Kinkle, Aunt Zelda and More
Get ready for a deep-dive look at the residents of Greendale. Netflix released new character photos for "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" this week, making us even more excited for the series to arrive than the trailer did.
See below for Netflix's official character descriptions. "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" premieres on Oct. 26 on Netflix.
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Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch) is Sabrina’s boyfriend. The prince charming of this dark fairy tale, Harvey is the son of a coal miner, a dreamboat and a dreamer, completely unaware of the dark forces conspiring to keep him and Sabrina apart.
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Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka): An empowered young woman, half-human, half-witch, Sabrina is just beginning her dark education as a sorceress, even as she tries to maintain a normal life as a sophomore at Baxter High. Intelligent, compassionate and brave to the point of recklessness, Sabrina is all that stands between us and the forces of darkness that threaten our world. Pictured with Lachlan Watson (as Susie Putnam), Jaz Sinclair (as Rosalind Walker) and Ross Lynch (as Harvey Kinkle).
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The Weird Sisters: Agatha (Adeline Rudolph), Prudence (Tati Gabrielle), Dorcas (Abigail Cowen): The three Weird Sisters—a trio of powerful, uncanny teenage witches at the Academy of Unseen Arts who look down their noses at Sabrina for being half-mortal.
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Hilda Spellman (Lucy Davis) is one of Sabrina’s two witch aunts. More nurturing than Zelda, Hilda’s motherly nature and warm sense of humor belie a wicked, ghoulish streak. She is as adept at brewing spite jars against her family’s enemies as she is at concocting love potions for the students at Baxter High.
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Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle) is High Priest of the Church of Night and Dean of the Academy of the Unseen Arts. Ruthless and ambitious, Blackwood hides a terrifying dark agenda that will put him in direct conflict with Sabrina and other members of the coven.
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Zelda Spellman (Miranda Otto) is Sabrina’s sterner witch aunt. Proud and devout, Zelda believes there is no greater honor than serving the Dark Lord as a member of the Church of Night. She is the family’s disciplinarian, fiercely protective of Sabrina, and very much Cain to Hilda’s Abel.
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Nicholas Scratch (Gavin Leatherwood) is a young, handsome warlock at the Academy of Unseen Arts who befriends new student Sabrina Spellman. An acolyte of Sabrina’s father’s teachings, Nicholas is drawn to Sabrina, as well, and there are immediate sparks between them.
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Sabrina's friends, Rosalind Walker (Jaz Sinclair) and Susie Putnam (Lachlan Watson): Rosalind is the brash, empowered and outspoken daughter of Greendale's minister and Sabrina's best friend at Baxter High. Susie Putnam is one of Sabrina’s friends at Baxter High and a founding member of the school’s newly formed WICCA club. Brave and optimistic despite being bullied at school, Susie lives on a farm at the outskirts of town and deals with a terrifying supernatural threat at home.
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Mary Wardell / Madam Satan (Michelle Gomez) is Sabrina’s favorite teacher and mentor at Baxter High. When she is possessed by the Devil’s handmaiden, Madam Satan, Ms. Wardwell turns into a sultry, cunning manipulator, always trying to lure Sabrina down the Path of Night.
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Ambrose Spellman (Chance Perdomo) is Sabrina’s warlock cousin from England. Placed under house-arrest by the Witches Council, Ambrose is forbidden from leaving the funeral home where he lives with the Spellman women. Witty, puckish and pan-sexual, he is one of Sabrina’s partners in crime, always up for mischief.
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Netflix also releases images of Aunt Hilda and Sabrina’s cousin Ambrose
Get ready for a deep-dive look at the residents of Greendale. Netflix released new character photos for "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" this week, making us even more excited for the series to arrive than the trailer did.
See below for Netflix's official character descriptions. "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" premieres on Oct. 26 on Netflix.