A BBC radio producer has quit his job over the airing of "Jerry Springer - the Opera," which he said blasphemed Christianity.

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Senior radio producer Antony Pitts threatened to quit before the musical aired, but Director General Mark Thompson convinced him to at least watch the award-winning show first, The Guardian reported Wednesday.

Pitt watched the show and quit this week, saying "Jerry Springer -- the Opera," which sparked 50,000 complaints, was even worse than he feared.

"The blasphemy was far, far worse than even the most detailed news reports had led me to believe," Pitts wrote in his resignation letter. Blasphemy included ridiculing Jesus on the cross "dressed to imply sexual perversion," as well as "repeated mockery of the wounds of Jesus, linked to acts of crudeness" and "singing of 'Jerry eleison' as a contemptuous travesty of an act of worship," he wrote.

Pitts said despite his disagreement with Thompson, a Catholic who said he did not find the musical blasphemous, he respects the BBC executive's handling of his concerns as a Christian.