A forthcoming film starring Paris Jackson as Jesus has been denounced as "Christianophobic garbage" in an online petition to prevent its release, which has attracted more than 260,000 signatures.

The casting of Jackson, a model and actor who is the daughter of the late pop star Michael Jackson, opposite Bella Thorne and the musician Gavin Rossdale in the film Habit, was announced in April. The plot synopsis suggests that Thorne plays a "street smart party girl with a Jesus fetish [who] gets mixed up in a violent drug deal and finds a possible way out by masquerading as a nun". Jackson's "gender-bending take on the religious figure" was reported to include "a nose ring, tousled waves and a traditional robe".

The petition, which names Warner Bros and Lionsgate as its targets, claims that Jackson will play Jesus as a "lesbian", although there is no mention of this in any publicly available reports of the film. The petition also claims the film is "blasphemous" and that it is "Christianophobic garbage that is spread nowadays, but is somehow accepted and praised by society".

The project previously sparked protest from an organisation called One Million Moms, which claimed the film was “sacrilegious and “ridicules people of faith”. It has started its own petition, which has attracted more than 69,000 signatures. – Guardian