In a video shared to his Instagram Nov. 1, a "bloody" Nicholas resembled depictions of Jesus Christ by wearing a white toga wrap around his waist and sandals as he performed the choreographed dance for Charli XCX's hit song "Apple" from her album Brat. In the background, fake men with arrows in their heads and blood dripping down their faces sat at a long table reminiscent of The Last Supper.
Another photo showed him smiling with fake nails in his palms, seemingly depicting Jesus’ crucifixion. Alongside the footage, Nicholas—who is currently starring on Ryan's Grotesquerie horror drama series as Father Charlie Mayhew—wrote in the caption, "BRAT supper @grotesqueriefx season finale is out now."
The costume called to mind Leonardo Da Vinci's iconic The Last Supper painting and the "Brat Summer" internet trend spawned by the popularity of Charli's album, Brat. But not everyone was on board with the pun.
"Oh we're mocking Jesus now??" one Instagram user commented under his post, while another added, "Um i cant defend you here. let’s please not use my religion like this."
Other criticism called the outfit “weird,” “disrespectful,” “not cute” and “sad.”
But others argued that the 25-year-old's attire must have something to do with his character on Grotesquerie, with one user writing, "Its literally for a show??"
Instagram
And some simply didn't think Nicholas had any bad intentions.
"Hahaha this is funny," one fan commented. "I grew up in a Christian home and I’m a spiritual person but even I can see the humour in this. I think God has much bigger things to worry about lol."
E! News reached out to Nicholas' rep for comment but has not heard back.
And while Nicholas hasn't addressed the criticism publicly, he previously admitted that he's still adjusting to all the newfound attention he's gotten since the release of Monsters.
Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix
"How could you ever keep track of it all?" he told People in an interview published Oct. 15. "It's very cool, and more than anything, it's cool to get those signals from people that they're responding to the work, but it is strange to see the response."
To see more stars' unique Halloween costumes, keep reading.