The Registrar received a complaint concerning an insert in a news programme that, inter alia, 
consists of humorous and satirical perspectives of the news by way of puppets resembling the characters portrayed. Given the sensitive nature of one of the items, which satirised a recently discovered fourth-century Coptic text stating that Jesus had been married, the matter was referred to a Tribunal. The Tribunal held that the item did not qualify as hate speech based on religion, as defined in the Code. The Tribunal reasoned as follows: The TopTV news item does not denigrate Jesus. In fact, the Jesus puppet remains silent when his “wife” accuses him of poor wine-making, messing in the bathroom while trying to walk on water and that he should tell Mary Magdalene to stop calling him. The “wife” is portrayed as a modern-day woman who smokes and drinks; she is also a foolish, nagging wife. Nothing that she says in the programme is in any way impressive. It is in fact she who is the object of the satire. Whilst realising that any such portrayal of religious figures may be offensive to some Christians, we do not believe that the religious figure of Jesus Christ is denigrated in any manner.
The complaint was, accordingly, not upheld.