Obama's Deal with the Devil

NJ Judge Resigns Over His Film About Obama's 'Deal With The Devil'

May 10, 2010

Rachel Slajda - A municipal court judge in New Jersey resigned this week after the state Supreme Court advised him not to promote his new movie -- a satire about President Obama's life that depicts him making a deal with the devil in order to become a communist dictator.

"It put me in an impossible position," the ex-judge, Kenneth Del Vecchio, told TPM in an interview today. "I had two choices: Either I could remain as a judge and shut up and have no free speech rights whatsoever ... or I had to resign."

Del Vecchio, a prolific filmmaker and author, produced, wrote and stars in "O.B.A.M. Nude," a movie about a coke-addled college student who sells his soul to the devil in order to impose his socialist will on the country. Satan starts him out by hooking him up with the "Righteous Reverend," a "close friend" of the devil's.

"Satan tutors him on political points," Del Vecchio describes. "So he can trick the masses by a mantra of hope and change."

The movie was set to be released this week. So Del Vecchio, who had been a judge for only four months, wrote an inquiry to a Supreme Court's advisory committee asking if he was allowed to give interviews and otherwise promote O.B.A.M. Nude and two other films he made. The committee advised that such promotion would be "improper or create an appearance of impropriety."

An excerpt from the trailer:



Although the committee's opinions aren't binding, Del Vecchio submitted his resignation.

It was a stand, he said, "not just for myself, but for the free speech rights of all artists, and all writers, and all people."

As Del Vecchio points out, "I'm a pretty well-known filmmaker." He's made a slew of movies, nearly all of which he appears in. His production company website lists unlikely reviews from about their Oscar-worthiness.

He's convinced he would have eventually been thrown off the bench if he promoted his film.

Although he won't say it directly, Del Vecchio suggests the opinion was based in politics.

"They're censoring the content of my movie," he said. "I can only state what the facts are. ... Draw your own conclusion."

The movie will screen in June at the Hoboken International Film Festival, which Del Vecchio chairs.

TPM asked Del Vecchio, who is white, why he chose to play the Obama character himself.

"First of all, Barack Obama is half Caucasian, half African-American. Why would I have to get an African-American actor?" he said. "It was satire. It wasn't supposed to be a literal interpretation."