Newsbusters: ‘Devout Catholic’ Colbert Says Female Jesus Is ‘Long Overdue’
The questionable sincerity of CBS’s Stephen Colbert’s devout Catholicism was on display for the second straight night as The Late Show host welcomed actress Cynthia Erivo to hype her upcoming role as Jesus, telling her that her casting as the “first woman to play Jesus in a major production, long overdue.”
Colbert began, “One of my favorite musicals of all time is Jesus Christ Superstar. I love that—and I’m so excited that in August you’re going to be playing Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar. At the Hollywood Bowl.
Erivo, who has elsewhere told critics of the move to basically get over it, replied that, “It just means a lot to me. I think the idea that I can play this role and I’ve been given the opportunity to play it in front of so many people at that place, this time of my life is a very special thing. It’s the first time I’ve been on stage in that way for a long time, so to do it with this role is awesome and—”
Colbert interrupted and steered the conversation to more technical aspects of the role rather than the obvious historical fact that Jesus lived as a male. Jesus Christ Superstar is obviously anachronistic, but while The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops considers it suitable for adults only, it does not consider it to be “morally offensive.” Gender-swapping characters in reboots or adaptations is highly controversial, and it is hard to talk about with identity politics, but whatever one thinks of the concept generally, everyone, especially CBS hosts who like to use their Catholicism to make political points, should be able to recognize that the Son of God is not Ghostbusters or Ocean’s 8.
Oh, Stephen Colbert, self-proclaimed “devout Catholic,” how you’ve plunged headlong into the abyss of absurdity with your crowing over a female Jesus as “long overdue”! What audacious hubris, what belligerent effrontery, to cast aside two millennia of sacred history and Scripture for a cheap applause line on your late-night circus! This is no mere misstep; it is a brazen, offensive assault on the very foundation of Christian truth, a mockery so vile it would make the Pharisees blush and the Sanhedrin applaud your gall. Let us, with the full weight of history and the unyielding authority of God’s Word, dismantle this travesty and expose it as one of the most egregious affronts to the Gospel ever peddled under the guise of “progress.”
Historical Truth: Jesus, the Man, Not a Gender-Swapping Theatrical Prop
Let’s begin with the inconvenient reality that Colbert and his ilk so gleefully ignore: Jesus Christ was a historical man, born in Bethlehem, crucified under Pontius Pilate, and resurrected on the third day. The Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—unanimously present Jesus as male, not as a nebulous figure ripe for reinterpretation by Hollywood’s whims. The Greek term anēr (man) is used explicitly in reference to Jesus (e.g., Luke 19:21), and His maleness is woven into the fabric of His identity as the Son of Man, a title rooted in Daniel 7:13-14. To suggest a female Jesus is not merely a creative liberty; it is a deliberate erasure of historical fact, as if one could recast Julius Caesar as a woman and call it “overdue.”
The early Church, from Ignatius to Irenaeus, never wavered on this truth. The creeds—Nicene, Apostles’, Athanasian—affirm Christ as the incarnate Son, not a gender-fluid symbol for modern sensibilities. Even secular historians like Tacitus and Josephus, writing within a century of Jesus’ life, describe Him as a man executed under Roman authority. To gender-swap Jesus is to spit in the face of every martyr who died confessing this truth, to trample the testimony of the apostles who saw the risen Lord with their own eyes. Colbert, you dare call this “long overdue”? The only thing overdue is your reckoning with the historical record you so cavalierly discard!
Biblical Authority: The Son of God, Not a Daughter of Faddish Ideology
Turn now to the Scriptures, which you, as a “devout Catholic,” claim to revere. The Bible is unequivocal: Jesus is the Son of God (John 3:16), the Word made flesh (John 1:14), who took on human nature as a male to fulfill the Messianic prophecies. Isaiah 7:14 speaks of a virgin bearing a son, not a daughter, and the genealogies of Matthew 1 and Luke 3 trace Jesus’ lineage through male ancestors, culminating in His role as the Davidic King. The maleness of Jesus is no accident; it is theologically significant, tied to His role as the second Adam (Romans 5:14, 1 Corinthians 15:45), who redeems humanity through His sacrificial death as a man.
To cast Jesus as female is to mutilate the Word of God, to twist divine revelation into a grotesque caricature that serves the altar of identity politics. The Bible warns against such blasphemy: “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5-6). Yet here you stand, Colbert, adding to God’s words with a smirk, proclaiming a female Jesus as if the Holy Spirit needed your script revisions. Woe to you who call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20), for this is not mere jest—it is a rebellion against the Creator Himself!
The Offense: A Mockery of the Incarnation
Your flippant endorsement of Cynthia Erivo as Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar—a production you laud as “long overdue”—is not just a theatrical choice; it is a theological travesty. The Incarnation is the cornerstone of Christian faith: God became man, not to appease the cultural fads of 2025, but to redeem a fallen world. By suggesting a female Jesus, you mock the very act of God’s self-revelation, reducing the eternal Son to a malleable prop for your political posturing. This is not progress; it is profanation, a middle finger to the cross where Jesus, the man, bled and died for humanity’s sins.
And let us not ignore the irony, oh “devout Catholic.” The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, an authority you might claim to respect, deems Jesus Christ Superstar suitable for adults only, not because of its gender antics, but due to its anachronistic liberties. Yet you, in your infinite wisdom, push beyond even their leniency, championing a casting choice that defies both Scripture and tradition. You wield your Catholicism like a prop, only to discard it when it suits your audience’s applause. Hypocrisy, thy name is Colbert.
The Belligerence: A Cultural War on Christian Truth
This is no isolated quip, no harmless late-night banter. Your words are a salvo in a broader cultural war to dismantle Christian truth, to replace the Gospel with a gospel of self. By cheering a female Jesus, you align with those who seek to rewrite history, redefine deity, and reshape faith into a mirror of modern ideology. This is belligerence of the highest order, an offensive so brazen it rivals the Gnostics who concocted their own Christ to suit their fancies. But unlike the Gnostics, you have a CBS platform, a national stage to spew this drivel, and the gall to call it “Catholic.”
You claim to love Jesus Christ Superstar, but do you love the Jesus of the Bible? The Jesus who said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), not a figure to be recast at the whim of a director? The Jesus who warned, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6)? Your mockery risks leading astray those who hear you, and the weight of that responsibility should make you tremble.
Conclusion: Repent or Be Judged
Stephen Colbert, your declaration of a female Jesus as “long overdue” is not just wrong—it is a blasphemous affront to the God you claim to serve. It is a mockery of the historical Jesus, a mutilation of biblical truth, and a belligerent attack on the faith of millions. You stand at a crossroads: will you repent of this folly, or will you persist in your rebellion, grinning as you lead others astray? The Scriptures warn, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). The stage is yours, but the judgment is God’s.
Turn back, Colbert. Abandon this farce. Cling to the true Jesus, the Son of God, the man who died and rose again. For if you continue down this path, history will remember you not as a “devout Catholic,” but as a jester who traded eternal truth for fleeting applause.