Roma Downey, Mark Burnett Cut Obama-Esque Satan Out of Son of God

Producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett have decided to cut Satan out of their upcoming film Son of God, according to TheWrap.

Downey and Burnett say the decision comes after they found themselves the targets of criticism last year, when their History Channel miniseries The Bible featured actor Mohamen Mehdi Ouzanni, who strongly resembles President Barack Obama, as Satan. Son of God is a pared-down version of The Bible with a running time of two hours rather than the original's 10.

Does The Bible's Satan look like President Obama?

"Someone made a comment that the actor who played the devil vaguely resembled our president, and suddenly the media went nuts," Downey said in a statement Monday, according to TheWrap. "The next day, when I was sure everyone would only be talking about Jesus, they were talking about Satan instead. For our movie Son of God, I wanted all of the focus to be on Jesus ... so we cast Satan out. It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the devil is on the cutting room floor."

Son of God will be released on Feb. 28. Watch a trailer for the movie below. What do you think of Downey and Burnett's decision to remove Satan from the film?