Jesus was Jamaican?!

Well, kind of...almost!

The link was made recently when I was told of the connection between Cool Runnings and Madonna. Having blogged about Hans Zimmer and Cool Runnings in recent weeks, it jogged my memory of this revelation that I learned about.

As a fan of the big screen, but an even bigger fan of music, I could not believe that I had never made the link between Madonna's (in) famous 'Like a Prayer' music video and the cast of Cool Runnings.

Leon Robinson
Because yes, the actor who played the controversial 'Black Jesus' in Madonna's hit video in 1989 was the same man who played the fictional lead character Derice Bannock in the hit 1993 film Cool Runnings, based loosely on the unlikely bid by Jamaica to run a bobsled team at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

But it must be said that whilst Leon Robinson was seen by many to have been portraying a 'Black Jesus' in the Madonna video, he was apparently (or so Wikipedia tells me at least) in fact portraying the role of a saint that was supposedly inspired by Saint Martin de Porres, the patron saint of mixed-race people and all those seeking interracial harmony.

As well as not playing Jesus, Leon Robinson it must be said, was not Jamaican! He was in fact born in New York.

So in this case at least, Jesus was not Jamaican.

But I had to share the link because as a particular fan of this hit Madonna song and video and also of Cool Runnings, it bemuses me how I could've gone the best part of 15 or so years and never made the clear link between the two.

So, there you have it!