Gelato Messina forced to apologise for ice-cream flavour that 'mocked Christians' over Easter

Popular ice-cream store Gelato Messina has been forced to apologise after it was accused of 'mocking' Christians with the name of one of its specials over the Easter weekend.

Messina sparked controversy after unveiling its latest flavour which was initially dubbed 'Cheesus the second coming'.

Those who identify as Christian condemned the ice-cream brand, filling its social media pages with negative comments and even forcing the reviews for its store in Marrickville, in Sydney's inner west, to drop from four stars to just two.

The brand renamed the special to Choccy Cheesecake on Tuesday and apologised to customers who were offended.

'Sincere apologies to anyone we offended with the old name, it was not our intention!' the brand wrote in an Instagram post.

'The vitriol and hate has been quite astounding but point taken, we will be more mindful of what we post in the future.'

In a post from April last year, the same flavour is advertised with the original title 'Cheesus the second coming'.

The brand's Instagram has since been flooded with negative comments from those within the Christian faith.

'What did you think was going to happen? You just lost many, many customers,' one wrote.

'Please, your 'vitriol and hate' towards Christianity on the most significant day of the Christian calendar was what prompted Christians to give you negative reviews and take our money elsewhere,' said another.

'How was it not your intention to offend and mock all Christians???' one comment read.

'Poor excuse for an apology. Always Jesus or Mary who are mocked! You would never mock the prophet Mohammed or Islamic faith would you?'

'Insensitive, I will never buy from you again, sad about that,' one man said. 

Meanwhile, others said it was 'ridiculous' that so many were making a fuss over an ice-cream flavour.

'It's literally gelato, people need to get over it pls,' said another.

'I miss the old days where no one was offended by gelato and wordplay,' said one.

'Tell me how many followers you lost and I'll buy enough ice cream to make up for it - I thought it was a great name!' one customer wrote.

In a follow-up comment, Messina said: 'The reviews and comments are fine, they will all be removed anyway. People threatening to physically hurt our staff is not okay.'

The ice-cream name even caught the attention of controversial Christian Lives founder Charlie Bakhos who accused the store's post of 'mocking Jesus'.

He said their Google reviews for their branch in Marrickville had gone from 4.5 stars to 2.6 in less than an hour.

'Mocking Jesus is not acceptable, not under our watch,' he said in a TikTok shared on Monday night.

'God bless for all those who stood up, keep up the good work.'

Gelato Messina has been contacted for comment.