Ed Brayton has the latest on Scientology v. South Park. The background is that Isaac Hayes, a/k/a Chef, quit the show, purportedly because of the show’s disrespect toward religion. Matt Stone, one of the creators, noted that Hayes had cashed a pile of checks while the show was making fun of Christianity; it was only after Scientology’s ox was being gored that Hayes decided to bail out.
Now, rumor has it, Comedy Central has pulled a rerun of the “In the Closet” episode making fun of Tom Cruise and Scientology. The official line is that the network pulled the controversial episode to “make room” for two episodes for which Chef’s character is best known as sort of a tribute. But the reality is probably as Ed suggests — Cruise threatened not to do publicity for Mission Impossible 3, distributed by Paramount. Both Comedy Central and Paramount are owned by Viacom. Ah, media consolidation.
Still, I’m reminded of a couple of sayings for those who are foolish enough to get into a war with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park’s founders: