Censoring South Park? That’s no surprise for individuals who watch South Park. But the show being censored for South Park 201 marks a fresh, new milestone that might are created to specifically attract the attention of censors. And Comedy Central censored the show after getting death threats from a Muslim group. Muslims apparently watch South Park. They also consider any physical representation of their prophet — cartoon, drawing, sculpture, movie, etc. — to be blasphemous, and in the case of extremists, punishable by death.
Censoring South Park 201
South Park 201, censored Wednesday night on Comedy Central and denied network approval for streaming online, was expected by fans who watch South Park to reveal a likeness of Muhammad. In episode 200, the character was concealed by a bearsuit. Muhammad comes out of the bear suit in episode 201 but is blacked out by a censor bar. The characters name is bleeped out whenever it is spoken.
Is South Park 201 funnier than the original when censored?
It may have actually been funnier to watch South Park 201, censored by Comedy Central following the group RevolutionMuslim.com published their death threat. It could possibly be said that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone used the occasion as an opportunity for self-parody, not to mention a huge surge of publicity no amount of pay day cash could buy too quickly.
Extremists offended by extreme South Park episodes
Muhammad depicted in episode 200 of South Park in a bear suit brought out the wrath of RevolutionMuslim.com. Parker and Stone no doubt must have imagined what could have happened within the subsequent South Park episodes after the group’s site published a post claiming they “outright insulted” the Prophet:
“We have to warn Matt and Trey that what doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show,” the post read. “This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.”
The post showed a graphic photo of a Dutch filmmaker who was murdered in Amsterdam in 2004 for making a film about Muslim women that offended Muslims, named Theo Van Gogh. Then listed were the addresses of Parker and Stone's California production office and Comedy Central's New York office.
Other South Park episodes
Other South Park episodes censored contain one that aired in 2006 when Parker and Stone wanted to weigh in on a controversy involving Muslim death threats motivated by caricatures of Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper. Comedy Central passed on the opportunity to get extra cash by depicting an image of Muhammad in that South Park episode. The South Park website does not make available for streaming episode 201. Instead of video, a box contains the message:
“After we delivered the show, and prior to broadcast, Comedy Central placed numerous additional audio bleeps throughout the episode. We do not have network approval to stream our original version of the show.”
Sources
Comedy Central
http://www.comedycentral.com/
Trey Parker and Matt Stone
http://treyparker.info/matt.htm
Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper
http://zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/jyllands-posten_cartoons/
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