Viacom’s Comedy Central enforcing sharia: Can’t say Muhammad on South Park or view episode online
Now “South Park” can’t even say the words “Prophet Muhammad.”
After last week’s episode of the Comedy Central series sparked a threat (and yes, it was certainly a threat) from a radical Islamic website, the network has cracked-down-for-their-own-good on creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone during last night’s continuation of the show’s storyline.
For those who missed the drama, the show’s 200th episode last week mocked the one “celebrity” that the series has been largely unable to depict, the Prophet Muhammad, who was hidden from view in a bear costume. A U.S.-based website
RevolutionMuslim.com then warned Parker and Stone they could end up like Theo Van Gogh (the Dutch filmmaker who was murdered by Muslim extremists after depicting Muhammad on his show) and even posted the address of the show’s production office. The site has since been shut down.
Last night, “South Park” continued the controversial Muhammad storyline, but with a key difference: every instance of the words “Prophet Muhammad” was bleeped out, making the episode practically incomprehensible, especially to anybody who missed the previous week.
The character of Muhammad was once again also hidden from view, covered by a large block labeled “censored.”
A Comedy Central spokesperson confirmed it was the network’s decision to bleep the words.
The Muhammad content is also not available on the South Park Studios website. A message on the site states: “We do not have network approval to stream our original version of the show. We will bring you a version of [episode] 201 as soon as we can.”
Ironically, “South Park” apparently shows an image of the Prophet Muhammad briefly in its opening credits that has gone largely unnoticed.
UPDATE: Parker and Stone comment on “South Park” censorship:
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.More from Huffpo, South Park’s Depiction Of Muhammad Censored AGAIN:
This week Muhammad was set to appear again, but was replaced by Santa Claus in a bear suit and the word “CENSORED” was plastered over parts of the episode. Every mention of Muhammad was bleeped out. It’s not immediately clear whether this was intended to protect the show’s creators or if it was executed by them to mock the hoopla, but what is clear is this is not the first time.
During the Muhammad cartoon uproar last year, the men tried to insert a picture of the Islamic holy figure into their show, but Comedy Central said no. In an interview with the Huffington Post earlier this year, Matt Stone had this to say on the subject:
“I think Comedy Central totally fucking pussed out. Now, they weren’t any different than anyone else, so it’s not like you can single them out. But I think it would’ve been an important statement for one media outlet in America to stand up. That was one of my most disappointing moments as an American–the American press’s reaction to the Muhammad cartoons. It was completely wimpy. Cartoonists, people who do satire–we’re not in the army, we’re never going to be fucking drafted and this is our time to stand up and do the right thing. And to watch the New York Times, Comedy Central, everybody just go ‘No, we’re not going to do it because basically we’re afraid of getting bombed’ sucked. I was so disappointed.”
The irony of it all? The pair did a show that included an image of Muhammad years before and a clip of it (pictured below) runs during the show’s opening in dozens of countries, in syndication, on Comedy Central, but garnered no attention.
Last night’s episode is not available on SouthParkStudios.com unlike every other episode the pair have produced.
From: Creeping Sharia
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.