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Good Omens protesters demand show be removed from completely wrong company

Good Omens protesters demand show be removed from completely wrong company

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Image: Amazon

It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that an angry fan online must be in search of a website to launch a mostly useless petition. A recent protest from a Christian group asking Netflix to remove Good Omens from its library is a perfect example — except that Good Omens isn’t part of Netflix’s library, because it’s an Amazon show.

The petition was first reported by The Guardian, which discovered that a Christian organization known as the Return to Order campaign launched the petition on its website asking Netflix to remove the series, which is an adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s beloved satirical novel from 1990 about the apocalypse. The petition argued the show was another flagrant attempt to “make satanism appear normal, light and acceptable,” adding “this type of video makes light of Truth, Error, Good and Evil, and destroys the barriers of horror that society still has for the devil.”

The petition collected more than 20,000 signatures at the time of The Guardian’s report, but seems to have since been removed. That’s likely due to the petition’s founders discovering that Netflix doesn’t have any say over whether Amazon decides to take down the show from its site.

Gaiman has responded to the petition in jest multiple times on Twitter, calling it absolutely beautiful. He’s also thanked people who have taken the petition as a way to share their own stories about personal connections to Good Omens and various religions. It seems to be a pretty positive experience for Gaiman overall.

“I love that they are going to write to Netflix to try and get #GoodOmens cancelled,” Gaiman tweeted. “Says it all really.”

The petition is absurd, but it’s an exemplary case proving what the state of online petitions has become in 2019. Whether it’s 20,000 people trying to get the wrong streaming service to remove a show because it promotes satanism (no one mention Sabrina), people angry over something in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, or objections to Captain Marvel, online petitions based around entertainment and fandom have become a mockery onto themselves. They don’t seem to carry any cultural cache they once did — and that may be because so many shows and movies have led to petitions. Not even Game of Thrones is safe.

For what it’s worth, Good Omens isn’t going to leave Amazon. Although the company did publicly send along their condolences to Netflix.