The Sex and the City spinoff series And Just Like That is raising eyebrows and drawing backlash after a recent episode featured Rosie O’Donnell playing a nun named Mary who loses her virginity to Miranda, played by Cynthia Nixon. Many viewers have criticized the scene as a mocking and disrespectful portrayal of Christianity, particularly Catholicism.
The episode “Outlook Good” features O’Donnell’s character meeting Miranda at a lesbian bar. The two return to Mary’s hotel room—she works for an organization called Compassion of the Unhoused—where they engage in a sexual encounter. Afterward, Mary reveals that it was her first time having sex.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that,” she tells Miranda. “Oh, you are really, really something. It felt so, I don’t know, electric, and yet, still so natural. I never dreamed my first time could be both those things.”
When Miranda assumes it was Mary’s first time with a woman, Mary clarifies, “This is my first time with anyone. I’m a virgin. Well, I was a virgin.” She then reveals she is a nun.
The scene has sparked mixed reactions online. Some viewers called the storyline “disgusting” and “ridiculous,” while others expressed concern over what they see as another example of Hollywood using Christianity as a target for shock value or satire.
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This controversy is part of a larger pattern, critics argue, in which Hollywood often treats Christianity, particularly Catholicism, in a negative, simplistic, or irreverent manner. For many Christians, the portrayal of a nun as a sexual punchline crosses a line, especially when other religions are treated with more caution or respect in mainstream media.
To them, And Just Like That is just the latest example of a double standard, where mocking Christianity is fair game. Still, similar treatment of other faiths would be considered unacceptable.
