A day after the History channel introduced a “Satan” character that looked eerily like a zombified version of Barack Obama, on the popular miniseries The Bible, both the network and the program’s creators have denied that the resemblance was anything but coincidental. In fact, they argue that any conspiracy theories that Obama and Satan were consciously linked are “false” and “foolish.”

Says the network:

HISTORY channel has the highest respect for President Obama. The series was produced with an international and diverse cast of respected actors. It’s unfortunate that anyone made this false connection. HISTORY’s ‘The Bible’ is meant to enlighten people on its rich stories and deep history.

And The Bible executive producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey:

This is utter nonsense. The actor who played Satan, Mehdi Ouzaani, is a highly acclaimed Moroccan actor. He has previously played parts in several Biblical epics– including Satanic characters long before Barack Obama was elected as our President.

And Roma Downey individually:

Both Mark and I have nothing but respect and love our President, who is a fellow Christian. False statements such as these are just designed as a foolish distraction to try and discredit the beauty of the story of The Bible.

The president is likely still recovering from being told by the Internet at large that his Hollywood doppelgänger is a TV-miniseries Satan. (Even a feature-film Satan would have been slightly less insulting.) Meanwhile, talk-radio host and designer-denim entrepreneur Glenn Beck, who appears to have set off the tidal wave of Obama-Satan tweets, has taken a more chill, uncharacteristically laid-back attitude toward the resemblance. “Media – relax. Actor has been in similar roles b4,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet. “Funny, nothing more. For different reasons, #TheBible is 1 of my fav shows. Keep watching.”