Playboy Portugal breaches mother ship's standards; is shut down

Playboy Portugal has been shut down by Playboy headquarters after running the cover image shown here (minus the black bar), according to a story on the site of the British Daily Mail. The cover shot and inside spread was to illustrate a story inside about Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saragamo.

The pictures show a long-haired, glowing Jesus watching two models in a lesbian clinch, standing next to a prostitute and looking over the shoulder of a woman reading a book. [On the cover] a heavily tattooed woman, appears to have died in his arms.

Playboy HQ said it didn't clear the cover, which a spokesperson said "is a shocking breach of our standards" and it has therefore decided to terminate its agreement with its Portuguese publisher.

Saramago’s novel is a fictional re-telling of Christ’s life, depicting him as a flawed, human character.

It generated controversy among the Roman Catholic Church, who accused Saramago of depicting a ‘substantially anti-religious vision.’

However, other critics have praised it as a ‘deeply philosophical, provocative and compelling work.’