The Christmas special has faced backlash over its satirical depictions, which imply Jesus has a gay lover and Mary smokes marijuana.

[2] Over 2 million people have petitioned online for the show's removal and advocated boycotts of Netflix over "blasphemy"; the creators maintain the protests are homophobic.

[3] On 24 December 2019, the headquarters of Porta dos Fundos in Rio de Janeiro was bombed with two Molotov cocktails.

[a] A Brazilian Integralist religious extremist group calling themselves the "Popular Nationalist Insurgency Command of the Large Brazilian Integralist Family" claimed responsibility for the bombing, even filming themselves attacking the offices while wearing ski masks; the group also criticized Netflix and labeled The First Temptation of Christ as blasphemous.

[4] In January 2020, Dias Toffoli, the president of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil, intervened on the attempted censorship of the film, overruling a judge from the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice who ordered the film's withdrawal from the streaming platform.