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Mormons Pissed at OC Weekly For Satirical Image of Mitt Romney
During election week, the OC Weekly ran an image on its cover portraying Mitt Romney as the Angel Moroni, the figure in Mormonism who reportedly gave Joseph Smith the content for the Book of Mormon.
The image was meant as satire, but according to the Weekly's news blog, Mormon readers didn't take too kindly to it. Editor Gustavo Arellano writes:
Starting on Wednesday and continuing ever since, Mormons from across the country but mostly centered around the Newport Beach LDS temple have called and written in to complain that our cover is offensive to their religion...
The readers in question have also threatened to stop picking up the Weekly and to boycott its advertisers.
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But Arellano isn't apologizing. He says that the Weekly has been "equal opportunity offenders" and that there's no reason for Mormons to get unduly upset:
We're not going to apologize, because while Moroni might be a sacred part of the LDS, Jesus is even sacred-er--and we've depicted him as everything from a pothead to a businessman to hanging out with aliens to worse...
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This work is only possible with community support. Every investigation, service guide, and story is made possible by people like you who believe that local news is a public good and that everyone deserves access to trustworthy local information.
That’s why we’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Thank you for understanding how essential it is to have an informed community and standing up for free press.
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