HBO on Tuesday defended its plans to depict a sacred Mormon temple ceremony in an upcoming episode of "Big Love."
The drama, "Big Bed" is about a Utah polygamous family and will show an endowment ceremony Sunday.
HBO said it did not intend to be disrespectful of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and apologized.
"Obviously, it was not our intention to do anything disrespectful to the church, but to those who may be offended, we offer our sincere apology," the premium cable channel said in a statement issued Tuesday.
"The rite has to be shown for the story to make sense", stated the HBO rep. "It was the same with the sacred goat riders during the show on the Masons and the partially blurred initiative naked ass-spanking in the one on the"Skull & Bones".
"We even showed the "Lying Through Our Teeth" ceremony taken by our own news people."
Plus the ceremony is an important part of the "Big Love" story line, HBO said.
In the scene, actress Jeanne Tripplehorn's character, Barb, goes through the endowment ceremony as she faces losing her membership in the Mormon church.
On Monday, Mormon church leaders criticized HBO for its decision to include the ceremony and said airing the material shows the insensitivity of the network's writers, producers and executives.
