Greggs apologises after replacing baby Jesus with a sausage roll in Christmas advert
13:17, 15 November 2017
High street Greggs has been left red-faced after replacing the baby Jesus in a nativity scene with a sausage roll.
The bakery chain, which has around 20 shops across the county, was forced to apologise after the classic nativity figure of Jesus had been swapped for the pastry.
Angry Christian shoppers took to social media to complain at the "insensitive" swap.
Those in the Jewish community were also incensed that Jesus - a Jew - had been replaced with a snack made of pork.
Comedian Bob Mortimer, who lives in Tunbridge Wells, tweeted: "Come on KFC..show Greggs the way... put a miniature Jesus in all your Christmas buckets."
A spokesman for Greggs has now apologised for the error, saying: "We’re really sorry to have caused any offence this was never our intention."
James Mather said: "I’m no prude, but equating Jesus, a Jew, to a sausage roll really is deeply offensive on all sorts of levels."
Another person tweeted: "Tbh I'm glad Christians kicked off and Greggs apologised for replacing Jesus with a sausage roll. No other religion would stand for that nonsense."
People have taken to social media to call for customers to boycott the bakery.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has been contacted for a comment.
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