'South Park' producers say network cut fear speech

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Producers of "South Park" said Thursday that Comedy Central removed a speech about intimidation and fear from their show after a radical Muslim group warned that they could be killed for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

It came during about 35 seconds of dialogue between the cartoon characters of Kyle, Jesus Christ and Santa Claus that was bleeped out.

"It wasn't some meta-joke on our part," producers Trey Parker and Matt Stone said. Comedy Central declined to comment.

... "Kyle's customary final speech was about intimidation and fear," they said. "It didn't mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped ... We'll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we'll see what happens to it."

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ixtNaqRpSqti8gDHGSyN8lXBhQjAD9F8E8C82

[Ian David]

1. I get the feeling they want to be released from a contract. n/t

[MrSlayer]

2. Comedy Central are total cowards.

It's sickening to see them capitulate to a bunch of whacko assholes.

[truthisfreedom]

3. Sad.

Sigh.

[marshall]

19. It is sad to see intimidation work

I understand they are fearful for their lives, their children's lives, the buildings they work in, their jobs and financial standing, but it's sad to see the bad guys take down another part of us.

[DeadEyeDyck]

33. If something were posted offensive about Mohammed

on Democratic Underground, would it survive?

[klm55500]

34. I agree

[derby378]

4. Maybe some people at Comedy Central need to be sacked...

...before someone gets the bright idea to run CC according to sharia law.

[Grassy Knoll]

5. WTF ?.......

FUCK THEM ,THIS IS OUR COUNTRY !!!
Get the fuck out if you don't like it .

[Flaneur]

13. Uh, who are you yelling at?

[liberation]

6. The deities the insane religious wackos follow seem to suffer from some massive insecurities...

... one would assume that the prophet Mohammed, if he really is enjoying the fruits of the after life and he is up there with the one and only true God would not get that faced by a joke. Or that if he really took offense, he is omnipotent enough to take care of business directly.

I am always wondering why these whack jobs never make the connection, that if their deities are as omnipotent as they claim to be (and thus the reason to follow and pray to them in the first place), how come they seem to require some mortal morons to do their bidding. But then again, faith implies the total subsumtion of common sense and logic.

[daleo]

7. Omnipotence means never having to do any of your own work

It's a paradox of theology - the more powerful the entity, the more assistance it needs.

[koski]

8. the saddest/funniest part of this is

the Prophet Muhammad appeared in a episode of South park season 5 http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103940/">Super Best friends.

This episode has now been pulled from the web.

[alp227]

11. That episode aired on Independence Day 2001, just before 9/11

So sensitivity towards Islam wasn't a really big issue back then. Now with 9/11 and the US involvements in Afghanistan and Iraq radical Islam has been able to intimidate dissidents to an extent unseen in history.

[ET Awful]

18. It can still be found :).

There are some unofficial sources (that are basically just ignored and from what I understand unofficially endorsed by Trey and Matt).

[Chulanowa]

9. On the other hand

What nice, free publicity stuff like this keeps giving these guys. "We were censored! becuase we're cutting-edge and too hip! Watch our show and buy our shit, it makes you cool and hip, too!"

[SnakeEyes]

10. I sort of disagree

While I don't agree with violent threats from others, I also don't agree with intentionally being insensitive toward another group's beliefs. I realize the show is a comedy and pokes fun at all things but shouldn't people also be able to sympathize with those who are offended? Also, this is the self-censoring by a private business. If it were governmental then I'd react differently.

[JCMach1]

16. Just watched the episodes, it was a message about intolerance

Part 1 was the setup... The fundys thought it was Mohammed in the bear costume. You find out in episode 2 that it was actually Santa Claus.

The rest of the time Mohammed appears in a complete black censored box.

The red herring was the fact the episode showed the Buddha snorting drugs! I suspect they didn't receive any death threats from Buddhists...

Brilliant irony and satire from the South Park guys.

[PurityOfEssence]

24. Religion should not be allowed to be a cosmic trump card for all sorts of ugliness

When religions promote, foster or turn a blind eye toward the intolerance of their own, they deserve to be called out for it.

[Hatalles]

25. Four morons in a basement dont constitute a religion...

"Revolution Muslim" is a handful of nutjobs who have been banned from their local mosques, shunned by the Muslim American community, and have had the cops called on them multiple times by the mosque they picket outside of.

[PurityOfEssence]

26. Religions are perfectly happy to take responsibility for the good they bring, but not the bad

The undeniable reality about that particular religion is that it has plenty of scripture to cite to justify aggressive xenophobia. The tiresome refrain that this is a twisting of the intent is itself a form of bigotry from those who start with a different premise than I do: that the religion is good. If one starts with that premise, then anything that doesn't fit is a misinterpretation.

The fact that the scripture is the justification is precisely the point for me, yet for the faithful, it can't really mean such things, since the faith is by definition so good.

That is the principal problem with religion: accepting things without proof and refusing to question the belief in the face of contradiction. Couple this with the clannish "specialness", and it's big trouble in a cosmopolitan, modern society.

Let's be serious about this, too: there are plenty of upright, decent, mild and soft-spoken members of the faith who secretly harbor a snickering delight that these guys might get what they deserve. It's not just the extremists who are a problem, and when this is coupled with a victim complex, vengeance is merely righteous self-defense.

[Hatalles]

30. I don't agree.

Religions are interpretive by their very nature. Just because you share the same interpretation as Osama Bin Laden -- and not, say, Asma Barlas, Reza Aslan, or Leila Ahmed -- does not make yours the valid one. It flies in the face of the other 99% of the religion who reject that extreme, violent, and antagonistic strain of Islam. Your last statement can be flipped on its head -- I'm certain that plenty of 'upright, decent, mild and soft-spoken members' of other faiths (or no faiths, for that matter) would shed not a tear if Muslims around the world were instantly massacred in one fell swoop.

[IndianaGreen]

31. Monotheistic religions are all intolerant at their very core, all of them!

Read any of their holy books, and they all contain commands to destroy all other religions, their idols, and their people.

Any belief system built on intolerance can hardly be relied to produce good. What little good there is comes, not because of the religion, but on account of people that are altruistic and compassionate.

People don't need a god or a Jesus to become altruistic and compassionate!

[SnakeEyes]

32. But not all Muslims are like this.

Most Muslims are not. Most of them are peace desiring people. While they are offended by an image of their prophet, they don't resort to threats of violence in response. All we are doing is allowing the media and the right wing to further a false portrayal of Muslims. Part of which is done to help keep up support for the "GWoT". I sympathize with those that are offended but not with those that advocate violence.

[Zephie]

12. Darn! And here I thought

that it WAS a metajoke. I watched when it aired and at first I was a bit angry about the censoring of the name Muhammad (which they had no issue with the week before), but when it got to the bleeped speeches I laughed and thought the whole thing was the lead up to a joke about overcensorship. Wow, I feel silly now D:

[Socal31]

14. Ruck Feligion.

[Odin2005]

20. +1

[Democat]

15. Least important news of the day award!

A commercial television station removed two seconds of dialogue from a cartoon character. News at 10!

[harun]

23. +1.

[Snazzy]

17. Everybody is cool with Jesus depicted as some hippy dude

And unto them a special circle will be reserved in hell...

for...

hacky-sack

[cbdo2007]

21. I'm sure you all would have done the same thing if it was YOUR life on the line.

But it's not. You're protected with anonimity on the internet so you can say whatever you want but if you and your family were in their position you would do the exact same thing.

[MadHound]

22. Actually you don't know any more about how we would react IRL than we know about you

Some of us actually have put our lives on the line for our beliefs, and probably will do so again. And frankly, a small group of fundamentalist Muslims really isn't that great of a threat in this country.

You're simply making assumptions about people you have no clue about. And you know what they say about ass u me.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mari333]

28. [phone]

[Doctor_J]

29. So now Muslim terrorists are getting programs censored, just like Christian terrorists

(Accuracy In Media, Family Research Council). this is not the America I grew up in.