I think the base of the whole left vs. right arguement is that fact that 1. liberals are rarely made fun of and 2. how can humor be made of a liberal, they're always right? :D

This is what's listed on the program guide, but CC is showing an old Mr.Hanky episode instead. WTF?

bunch of pussys.

I was thinking they should keep Chef around, only with a really high pitched voice. When one of the kids asks what happened to his voice, he can say he was brainwashed by a bunch of scientologists and he let them cut off his nuts.

Yea, I got that too. What a jip!

from variety:

Inside Move: 'South Park' feeling some celeb heat?
Cable net abruptly pulls repeat of Scientology episode

By MICHAEL FLEMING

The battle between "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Scientology is escalating.
The dust-up gained steam last week when Isaac Hayes, a practicing Scientologist who has long been the voice of the character Chef, quit after objecting to a "South Park" episode called "Trapped in the Closet," which lampooned both the religion and Tom Cruise.

The skirmish continued this week, when Comedy Central abruptly pulled a repeat of that episode that was scheduled to air Wednesday evening. Showing instead was another memorable seg which featured Hayes's character, called "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls."

Blog reports pegged the mysterious episode switch to objections raised by Cruise, who, the reports stated, threatened to not promote "Mission: Impossible 3," the summer tentpole for Viacom-owned Paramount.

A spokesman for Cruise denied that Cruise had ever made such a threat. "He never said any such thing about 'Mission: Impossible 3," the spokesman said.

While the "South Park" creators didn't directly comment on Comedy Central's decision to pull the episode, they issued an unusual statement to Daily Variety indicating the battle is not over.

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

The duo signed the statement "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."

Wow, that is some classic Trey and Matt stuff right there. They should devote the whole season to bashing, I mean exploring, Scientology.

That statement from Matt and Trey is classic.

This story says that Viacom ordered them not discuss why the episode was yanked.

All I can say is *WOW*. If true, it's really scary-apalling.

http://www.nypost.com/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm

CRUISE CONTROL SCARES 'PARK'

March 17, 2006 -- HOLLYWOOD bully Tom Cruise got Comedy Central to cancel Wednesday night's cablecast of a controversial "South Park" episode about Scientology by warning that he'd refuse to promote "Mission Impossible 3," insiders say.

Since Paramount is banking on "MI3" to rake in blockbuster profits this summer, and Paramount is owned by Viacom, which also owns Comedy Central, the tactic worked.

The "South Park" episode, "Trapped in the Closet," pokes fun at Scientology and shows Cruise, John Travolta and R. Kelly (who is not a Scientologist, but has a song called "Trapped in the Closet") literally in a closet.

The episode, which first aired last November, was set to rerun Wednesday night, but was mysteriously pulled at the last minute.

Now, hollywoodinterrupted.com reports Cruise went straight to the top - to execs at Viacom - and warned he'd boycott the promotion for "MI3" unless the "South Park" episode was pulled.

Series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have been told not to discuss the matter - to avoid embarrassing Cruise as they did Isaac Hayes last week when Hayes, also a Scientologist, quit his role as the voice of the Chef character.

Hayes claimed he couldn't stand by while "South Park" made fun of religion, but Stone pointed out that Hayes had cashed plenty of checks while the show made fun of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Stone hinted that Hayes was pressed to quit by his minders in the Church of Scientology.

A rep for Comedy Central, asked if Cruise was responsible for the "Closet" episode being yanked, attributed it instead to Hayes' resignation, saying, "In light of the events of earlier this week, we wanted to give Chef an appropriate tribute by airing two episodes he is most known for." But TV insiders weren't buying that explanation.

Now the question is whether Comedy Central will ever again air "Trapped in the Closet" and whether it will be included on the DVD of the show's ninth season.

Cruise has a history of playing hardball. He is allegedly responsible for the missing sex scene his fiancée Katie Homes filmed (before she started dating Tom) in "Thank You for Smoking," which opens today.

And who will ever forget the way Cruise shouted down Matt Lauer on the "Today" show when Lauer argued that some people have been helped by prescription drugs?

Waitaminute, I thought it was the Conservatives we had to worry about (wrt censorship)!?!? Is Viacom owned by Haliburton or something???

I don't see any government censorship issues here. :scratch2:

True, this is not a first amendment issue (no government involvement), but to the extent that control of societal norms has been ceded to the corporate oligarchy (in this case Viacom), it's still institutional suppression of speech.

Who said anything about "government"? When "Conservatives" are offended by something and take steps to restrict its distribution, even if those steps are merely in the form of not viewing the work in question, there is a significant outcry of "Censorship!" and much name calling (bigots, racists, homophobes).

It just seems to me that this is a case of supressing artistic expression in order to cater to the cash cow celebs who are offended. Seems to me there should be at least as much outcry and objection in this case as there is when Christian Conservatives are abstaining from material they find objectionable, regardless of whether you agree with the basis for the objection in either case. Consistency is the first part of a defensible policy.

In other words, if certain people want to blast theatre owners when they choose to not show "Brokeback Mountain" or "Farenheit 9/11", those same people should already be blasting Comedy Central and Viacom for this move.

I'm not suggesting that the government is involved, nor should be involved. But I can see where you made that tiny leap, since I was talking about Conservatives. :)

Good ol' Tom Cruise.

Ok so since I missed this episode entirely, when will be my next opportunity to see it?
When the current season DVD comes out?

:lol: That's classic. :up:

Season 7 is coming out on March 21st while the episode was on the 9th season.

The full episode's up at YouTube (until Tom Cruise shuts it down). Just search for "South Park scientology".

(can we directly link to YT streams here?)

I am still troubled by the fact that it took 4 months for this uproar to start.

Which leads me to a theory... Could it be possible that Trey & Matt are orchestrating this whole thing to help create buzz for the season premiere next Wednesday night?

I was consistant for a change! Do I win a prize?

This was my first thought when I heard of Viacom's move to pull the episode.

You could be on to something. For example Cruise's crazyness preluded War of the Worlds rather nicely, and he was rather quiet between projects. There's Russel Crowe's phone-throwing incident right around Cinderella Man's premier - this sort of thing is happening more and more. That's not to say though that Scientology is not a corrupt cult that will stoop to devious means.

Just watched this episode for the first time. Absolutely brutal :bow:
Just to be clear, what they showed about the scientology doctrines is the real ting right ? Part of me feels sorry for the follower for being duped. Part of me feels they deserve it for being such dumbasses

If I were Viacom, I'd definitely run the "Trapped" episode again (when is it going to have a bigger buzz than now) and let Paramount be glad that Tom Cruise won't be promoting MI:3 considering the Anti-Cruise/Holmes backlash that came after his War Of The Wolds "promotion."

Yep. Scary, huh?
You don't learn about Xenu until you've been in the "church" for a long time and spent a lot of money. By that time, you will probably believe whatever you're told...