South Park and Scientology

[billroper]

Now, you've got to understand that I have no real interest in South Park -- it's just not my thing. But there's been a bit of a fuss going on since Isaac Hayes announced that he was quitting the show, because of the way that it made fun of religion. I understand that Hayes' character, Chef, once punched out Jesus in a boxing match on the show, which apparently was not a problem for him. Making fun of Scientology, however, was beyond the pale.

Rumor has it that Tom Cruise pressured Comedy Central's parent, Viacom, to pull the scheduled rerun of the Scientology episode, which the network did. The response from the creators of South Park is here.

You'll enjoy it. I did.

Comments

[weirdsister.livejournal.com]

Love it! Thanks for sharing! South Park pretty much lampoons everybody, and I always find the reactions of the agrieved parties interesting and also very revealing. When it comes down to it, the truth does hurt.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

I saw and interview with one of the South Park creators. His response was (I'm paraphrasing from memory, bear with me) that Isaac Hayes was the worst kind of bigot, that he had no problem with trashing Christianity and making fun of Jews and Muslims, but he got all bent out of shape when they took on Scientology. The implication was that if they wanted to play hardball, he had his bat and mitt ready.

I can only imagine what sort of show will be in next season's lineup. Not that it will be broadcast on anything Viacom owns, but there are other distribution avenues these days.

I just wish I could stomach South Park any of the time.

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yes. Thank you.