Christian Bale has been applauded by the Church of Satan for thanking the Devil in his latest Golden Globes speech.
The 44-year-old actor won a Best Actor gong for his role as Dick Cheney in Vice, and thanked Satan for "giving me inspiration on how to play this role" as he accepted the award.
- Christian Bale calls out 'white dudes' running America
- Christian Bale should feel embarrassed, says China
Bale's shout-out to Satan won reciprocal praise from the official Twitter account of the Church of Satan - which noted the irony of his first name, and revealed itself to be a Batman fan.
"To us, Satan is a symbol of pride, liberty and individualism, and it serves as an external metaphorical projection of our highest personal potential," said the Church of Satan.
"As Mr Bale's own talent and skill won him the award, this is fitting. Hail Christian! Hail Satan! Also, Bale's Dark Knight era Batman is the best Batman ever."
Meanwhile, right-wing political and media personalities in the US were less impressed with Bale's speech.
In a segment entitled 'Hollywood Hate' on chat show Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade said Bale's speech was disrespectful to the real life Cheney.
"It's just a real insult to a guy who spent his whole life in public service, from secretary of defense, to chief of staff, to vice president of the United States," he said.
"It makes Bush look terrible, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, especially."
Cheney's daughter Liz, a Donald Trump-allied US congresswoman, took to Twitter to suggest Bale was inspired by Satan to assault his mother and sister - something he was arrested on suspicion of in 2008, but denied and was ultimately not charged for.
Also during his speech, Bale suggested the next "charisma-free arsehole" he'll portray in a film could be Republican senator Mitch McConnell.
Newshub.
