Netflix Removes Chilling Adventures of Sabrina "Bloody Sunday" Tweet After Backlash

The nature of Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina means it regularly embraced mythology [...]

By Patrick Cavanaugh

The nature of Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina means it regularly embraced mythology surrounding Satan, even if some viewers may have found such plot points blasphemous, but a tweet from this past weekend seemingly crossed a line with fans, to the point that the official Sabrina Twitter account deleted the tweet. The tweet featured behind-the-scenes photos of the cast, most of them covered in blood, with the caption "Sunday bloody Sunday." When fans pointed out the connection to the 1972 attacks in Derry, Northern Ireland in which 13 people were killed and 15 were injured, the tweet was deleted and Netflix issued an apology.

"Our tweet was unacceptable and has since been removed. We are very sorry for the hurt and distress it caused," Netflix shared in a statement, per Deadline.

Despite this tragedy in North Ireland, as well as the U2 song "Sunday Bloody Sunday," being the most popular uses of this phrase, it predates these usages. For example, in 1971, the film Sunday Bloody Sunday from director John Schlesinger was released.

As if the subject matter of the series wasn't controversial enough, this is only the latest instance of the series earning backlash in unexpected ways. When the series first debuted on Netflix back in 2018, Netflix was the subject of a lawsuit from The Satanic Temple, as the series incorporated a statue that was specifically designed and constructed for the Temple. The lawsuit was ultimately settled, with the series also then updating its credits to acknowledge The Satanic Temple.

"The Satanic Temple is pleased to announce that the lawsuit it recently filed against Warner Bros. and Netflix has been amicably settled," Satanic Temple attorney Stuart de Haan shared in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter in November of 2018. "The unique elements of the Satanic Temple's Baphomet statue will be acknowledged in the credits of episodes which have already been filmed. The remaining terms of the settlement are subject to a confidentiality agreement."

Lucien Greaves, co-founder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple, previously detailed that his issue with that statue was due in large part to setting the record straight on where the design originated.

"It's distressing on the grounds that you have to worry about that association being made where people will see your monument and not know which preceded the other," Greaves detailed to SFGATE previously. "And thinking that you arbitrarily decided to go with the Sabrina design for your Baphomet monument, which rather cheapens our central icon."

All four seasons of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina are now streaming on Netflix.

What do you think of the controversy? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

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