I've been dealing with a backache and allergies since yesterday, so this is the first chance I've had to make a comment on this.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone -- YOU ROCK!
Very few of the mainstream outlets are commenting on this save for CNN and Fox News, but the creators of "South Park" are involved in a bit of a controversy again over another two part episode that recently aired, and it looks like it's having some potential long term consequences for what will be aired and streamed in the near future.
But here's a bit of history before we get into talking about this episode:
1) July 4, 2001 -- The airing of the episode "Super Best Friends." In the episode, the group of kids join a cult started by David Blaine, and are eventually rescued by the Super Best Friends, which include Jesus, John Smith, Buddha, Krishna, Sea-man, and Muhammad, who has "the power of flame." Muhammad was shown in his full glory, and no threats were made over the episode.
2) April 5, 2006 -- "Cartoon Wars" airs, the first of two parts. The episode has the town of South Park in a tizzy because the show "Family Guy" is about to show Muhammad on their show. The first part ended with the guys asking if Comedy Central would "puss out" or allow them to show Muhammad. In the second part, we got our answer -- Comedy Central opted to censor the image of Muhammad instead of featuring him on the show.
3) April 14, 2010 -- For their 200th episode, titled appropriately "200", Parker and Stone decide to revisit a lot of the storylines from the past 14 years. One of them being the Muhammad storyline from "Cartoon Wars." Still one of the "Super Best Friends," Muhammad can now no longer be seen in public because no one wants to get "blown up." The celebrities that have been mocked mercilessly over that time file a class action lawsuit unless they can get Muhammad. The Ginger Kids have their own plans for Muhammad, while in the meantime Cartman discovers that he was lied to as to who his father was, and goes searching for the truth. After the episode aired, a fringe Islamic group called Revolution Muslim "warned" (threatened) Parker and Stone on their website (since taken down) that they could end up like director Theo Van Gogh, who was murdered while filming a documentary on Islam and its treatment of women. So since this was a 2 part episode, where is the next week going to lead us?
This brings us to Wednesday night.
The episode "201" is about to air. The episode's going along fine. Then you might have noticed something right away.
The name "Mohammad" is bleeped out, as if his name was a vulgarity.
Then we get to the part of the episode where the kids do the "I learned something today" speech. And the entire thing is bleeped out.
Because I don't get cable, I was going to watch the show online. I was greeted with a notice that South Park Studios was not allowed to stream the show "at this time." So I had to find an alternate source to watch the show. In a bunch of entertainment articles that appeared, there was confusion over whether the additional beeps were another joke or if Comedy Central had something to do with it.
Parker and Stone released this statement yesterday afternoon.
In the 14 years we've been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn't stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn't some meta-joke on our part. Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle's customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn't mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too. We'll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we'll see what happens to it.
What gets me is the part where they say that the end speech didn't contain any mention of Muhammad but was censored anyway. So now Comedy Central is censoring any criticism for their decision.
Chickens.
Good news is that someone at Comedy Central has some balls to stand up to them.
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I've already written letters to just about everyone in the chain of command at Comedy Central over this decision. I'm mad because this decision appeases the very people who want ALL Americans to be dead because they don't follow the Muslim "ideal" of Sharia law. They don't get that this will NOT stop, regardless of how many episodes they pull. THEY WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED. That is how terrorism works -- to scare you into doing something that THEY want. And in this case it looks like they succeeded.
I urge EVERYONE to write to the corporate suits at Comedy Central. If there's enough of an e-mail bomb, maybe they'll put this episode on the site uncensored (and also bring back "Super Best Friends," as well -- that episode has also been pulled since then). This is not acceptable to anyone who believes in free speech, and this either needs to be rectified as soon as possible or we need to support Parker and Stone more on this fight.
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