Satanic Temple reaches settlement in Netflix-WB ‘Sabrina’ lawsuit

Netflix/AP Photo/Hannah
Grabenstein/INSIDER

• On Wednesday, Warner Bros. confirmed it had reached
  a settlement with The Satanic Temple in a lawsuit over
  a statue that appears prominently in the Netflix “Sabrina” reboot
  (which Warner Bros. made).
• The Temple sued Warner Bros. and Netflix for $50 million
  earlier this month, claiming the “Chilling Adventures of
  Sabrina” copied its statue of a goat-headed deity, called
  “Baphomet with Children.”

 

The fight over a goat-headed statue that pitted Satanists against
media giants has ended.

On Wednesday, Warner Bros. confirmed to Business Insider that it
had “amicably settled” a lawsuit brought by The Satanic Temple
against Netflix and Warner Bros. earlier this month, which
alleged that the “Sabrina” reboot copied its statue of the
goat-headed deity Baphomet, and implied it stood for evil. Warner
Bros did not comment on the terms of the settlement.

The Satanic Temple did not respond to a request for comment, but
told Business Insider last week that it was “in the process of finalizing an
amicable settlement” with Warner Bros.

The Temple had sued Netflix and Warner Bros. for $50
million and accused the companies of “copyright infringement,
false designation of original, false description; and forbidden
dilution under trademark dilution, and Injury to Business
reputation under New York General Business Law.”

In the suit, the Temple argued that “Chilling Adventures of
Sabrina” copied its specific iteration of the “Baphomet with
Children” statue, which it created from 2013 to 2014 for $100,000
in response to a statue of the Ten Commandments being donated to
Oklahoma City.

The lawsuit cited an interview with
Vice in which “Sabrina” production designer Lisa
Soper said any resemblance between the show’s statue and the
Temple’s statue was a coincidence. But the Temple argued that
“Baphomet has never been depicted with two children gazing
reverentially at the Sabbatic Goat head” like its statue depicts
the deity.

The Temple said in its lawsuit that it views Satan as a
“literary Satan,” “meant to be a rebel against God’s authority,
rather than an evil being.” And it stressed the show’s
implication that the statue stands for evil is in “stark
contrast” to that view.

“Among other morally repugnant actions, the Sabrina Series’
evil antagonists engage in cannibalism and forced-worship of a
patriarchal deity,” the lawsuit said.

Below is a comparison provided in the lawsuit:

Satanic Temple’s ‘Baphomet with Children’ statue

Satanic
Temple

‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ statue

Satanic Temple/Netflix
screenshot