Makers of Netflix show Sabrina sued by Satanic Temple

The Satanic Temple claim a statue featured in the dark reboot of the 90s sitcom, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, is a copy of their depiction of the goat-headed deity Baphomet.

The activist group also argue the use of the statue has been done in a way that gives both the statue and Temple a bad reputation.

Netflix Inc and Warner Bros Entertainment have declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In an interview with Vice – before legal action was mentioned online by the Temple – the show’s production designer Lisa Soper said any resemblance is “kind of a coincidence”.

She added that although there are a limited number of statues of the deity, there are “hundreds and hundreds of iterations of him”.

Ms Soper also claimed that the version on the show is “no different from… any other of the mass amounts of iterations of him that have been around”.

The New York Times reports the plaintiffs are asking for at least $50m (£38m) for each alleged infraction, namely: copyright infringement, trademark violation and injury to the business’ reputation.

The Temple is also seeking an injunction to prevent the series being redistributed with the image of the statue.

Lucien Greaves, who co-founded the Satanic Temple, tweeted to compare their statue and the one used in the television series.

Mr Greaves also confirmed the Temple was taking legal action for “appropriating our copyright monument design to promote their asinine Satanic Panic fiction”.

According to its website, the Satanic Temple aims to “encourage benevolence and empathy among all people”.

The Temple says it does not “promote a belief in a personal Satan”.

The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina is a supernatural drama which follows the half-mortal half-witch teenager Sabrina Spellman.

The character first appeared in 1962 in the eponymous Archie Comics series.