4 times Barack Obama likened to Jesus, the Messiah: 'This is the New Testament'

1. ‘The Truth’

In 2009, artist Michael D’Antuono sought to display a painting called “The Truth” in New York City’s Union Square to celebrate the 100th day of Obama’s presidency. The painting portrayed Obama in front of the presidential seal with his arms in a V-shape and a crown of thorns on his head, in the position that Jesus Christ was in when he was crucified on Good Friday. 

Backlash forced D’Antuono to cancel his planned event in Union Square. Responding to the outcry over his depiction of Obama, D’Antuono stated through a publicist that “The religious reference was used metaphorically and not to insult anyone’s religious beliefs.”

“If that is the effect that my art has had on anyone, I am truly sorry,” the statement added. Three years later, around the time of Obama’s re-election, “The Truth” was displayed at the Bunker Hill Community College Art Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of an exhibit titled “Artists on the Stump: The Road to the White House 2012.” 

D’Antuono addressed the controversy over his painting three years earlier, telling Fox News that “I always regretted canceling my exhibit in New York because I feel my First Amendment rights should override someone’s hurt feelings.” He attributed the cancellation of his exhibit to the “religious right’s extreme outrage.” 

“Interpreting the political piece as blasphemy, they planned protests and wrote thousands of letters demanding the show be canceled,” he added.