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Folsom Street "Last Supper Ad" Sparks Controversy

POSTED: 8:43 am PDT September 28, 2007
UPDATED: 1:06 pm PDT September 29, 2007

An advertisement for San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair featuring a leather-clad twist on Da Vinci’s Last Supper sparked a national controversy Friday with a major Catholic group calling for a national boycott of one of the event's sponsors and House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi defending its use.

The poster for this weekend's fair has leather-clad individuals taking the place of Jesus and his disciples. Sex toys are also visible on the table.

The Concerned Women for America is among the conservative groups condemning the ad.

"The bread and wine representing Christ's broken body and life-giving blood are replaced with sadomasochistic sex toys in this twisted version of da Vinci's 'Last Supper,'" the CWA said in a statement.

At her Friday morning press conference, Pelosi was asked about the ad.

"It's a Constitutional question. It's a religious question. It's about as global a question as you could ask," the House leader said. "I'm a big believer in the First Amendment. I do not believe Christianity has been harmed by the Folsom Street Fair."

On the original poster, the corporate logo for the Miller Brewing Company, a sponsor of the fair, was prominently placed. On Friday, Bill Donahue -- the president of the Catholic League -- called for a nationwide boycott of the brewer's products.

“Never have we experienced greater corporate arrogance than in this dispute with the Miller Brewing Company,” Donahue said in a statement. “Miller is sponsoring an incredibly outrageous and palpably anti-Christian event in San Francisco: the Folsom Street Fair.”

Miller spokesman Julian Green said the brewer had asked that its logo be removed from the ad.

"While Miller has supported the Folsom Street Fair for several years, we take exception to the poster the organizing committee developed this year,” Green said in a statement. “We understand some individuals may find the imagery offensive and we have asked the organizers to remove our logo from the poster effective immediately.”

Fair organizers said it was not their intention with the controversial poster to make a religious statement. Others have also defended it pointing out that depictions of Da Vinci’s Last Supper in the past have featured groups ranging form the Simpsons to McDonalds to Legos to the Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox.

"I guess it wouldn't be Folsom Street Fair without offending some extreme members of the global community," said Andy Copper, board president of Folsom Street Events, in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon. "There is no intention to be particularly pro-religion or anti-religion with this poster; the image is intended only to be reminiscent of the 'Last Supper' painting."

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