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Believe it or not, it's not the Christian church that's taking issue with Netflix's new show about witchcraft and the occult. Tony Spitz's Buzz60's has the details.
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Kiernan Shipka as Sabrina on "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina."(Photo: Netflix)

The Satanic Temple is rising hell over a new Netflix series.

At issue is a statue of the goat-headed deity Baphomet that appears in the TV series "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina," released Oct. 26 by Netflix.

The Salem, Massachusetts-based church Netflix charges and Warner Bros., which produced the TV series, are violating the copyright and trademark of the Satanic Temple's Baphomet statue, which it built several years ago.

Historically, the androgynous deity has been depicted with a goat's head on a female body, but The Satanic Temple created this statue with a male chest. Called Baphomet With Children, the statue has gathered attention because of the temple originally built to donate to Oklahoma City.

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"Importantly, these original expressions are used throughout the Sabrina Series and the central focal point of the school in the Sabrina Series which represents evil antagonists," the Temple Charges in a Dispute filed Thursday in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The Temple is seeking damages of at least $ 50 million for copyright infringement, trademark infringement and injury to business reputation. In the "Sabrina" storyline, the use of the statue "has the central focus of the school associated with evil, cannibalism and possibly murder is injurious to TST's business," the Temple says in its suit.

In the TV series, Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) must decide whether to join the Church of Night, the devil-worshipping religion to which she belongs in the Dark Lord's Book, essentially giving away her free will.

The statue appears in at least four of the series' 10 episodes, the Temple says in the complaint. "What makes this case particularly striking and significant is that they are highly sophisticated media production and distribution companies which are appropriately misled by their own intellectual property. , "the suit says.

Neither Netflix nor Warner Bros. immediately responded to the request.

Lucien Graves The Temple had threatened legal action last week with cofounder and spokesperson tweeting on Oct. 30"Yes, we are taking legal action with regard to the Satinic Panic fiction."

Soon after, he tweeted a comparison of the statues – the Temple's statue is on the top – should not be familiar with Baphomet.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/11/09/sabrina-netflix-lawsuit-satanic-temple-sues-over-baphomet-statue/1940562002/