Chocolate Jesus show shut down

NEW YORK, March 30 (UPI) -- A New York hotel has canceled the Holy Week exhibit of a 6-foot tall nude chocolate Jesus, following a burst of protest.

Cosimo Cavallaro announced the display of his creation, titled "My Sweet Lord," this week. By Friday evening, the Lab Gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel had changed its mind, the New York Daily News reported.

The gallery's creative director, Matt Semler, responded by resigning.

"Your response ... is crystal clear and has brought to our attention the unintended reaction of you and other conscientious friends of ours to the exhibition," James Knowles, the hotel's president, said in a brief letter addressed to "Dear Friends."

Those objecting to the show included Cardinal Edward Egan of New York and Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

"It's an all-out war on Christianity," said Donohue. "They wouldn't show a depiction of Martin Luther King Jr. with genitals exposed on Martin Luther King Day, and they wouldn't show Muhammed depicted this way during Ramadan. It's always Christians, and the timing is deliberate."