COMEDIAN David McSavage has criticised RTE for vetoing a sketch in the new series of The Savage Eye, a satirical comedy show.

The offending sketch features shirtless male models and a muscled Jesus on the cross being watched adoringly by a group of giggling nuns. It mimics a recent Diet Coke television advertisement in which a gardener is ogled by a group of women after removing his Coke-saturated shirt.

“RTE banned this sketch using the blasphemy laws and it’s strange as they probably would have allowed it a few years ago, so I think we’re kind of going backwards a little bit,” said McSavage.

“I was surprised because anybody who has seen the sketch doesn’t think that it’s in any way defamatory. I wonder was