Salt Lake City’s Church of Latter-day Saints-owned NBC affiliate, KSL, has previously banished shows like The Playboy Club and The New Normal, only to be met with cries of hypocrisy for allowing violent, sexual assault-filled crime procedurals to continue promoting a life of chastity. But if there’s one thing the Mormon Church can definitely not be accused of, it’s making arbitrary rules based on questionable dogma, and so it has also now banned Hannibal. The station says it made its decision “due to the extensive graphic nature of this show”—a quibble with which one can’t really argue, given the series’ propensity toward frequent gore and coffee drinking—and after receiving “numerous complaints” from viewers who long ago cast their remote control into the fire, deeming it “the Devil’s wand.” (Presumably Hannibal's practice of using every part of his kills also hewed too closely to that of their ancient enemy, the American Indian.)
KSL will replace all airings of Hannibal with a special early broadcast of the nightly news—where nothing disturbing ever happens—and has once again preemptively dismissed any complaints about its cancellation with a passive-aggressively shaming statement, saying, “KSL is confident that with the proliferation of digital media, those who wish to view the program can easily do so." And as with The New Normal and Saturday Night Live before it, Hannibal will also be made available on Salt Lake City’s CW affiliate, where those without virtue can continue to enjoy their cannibalism, homosexuality, and sketch comedy. [via UPROXX]