By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer
Published April 13, 2006, 5:14 PM CDT


NEW YORK -- Banned by Comedy Central from showing an image of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the creators of "South Park" skewered their own network for hypocrisy in the cartoon's most recent episode.

The comedy -- in an episode aired during Holy Week for Christians -- instead featured an image of Jesus Christ defecating on President Bush and the American flag.

In an elaborately constructed two-part episode of their Peabody Award-winning cartoon, "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker intended to comment on the controversy created by a Danish newspaper's publishing of caricatures of Muhammad. Muslims consider any physical representation of their prophet to be blasphemous.

When the cartoons were reprinted in newspapers worldwide in January and February, it sparked a wave of protests primarily in Islamic countries.

Parker and Stone were angered when told by Comedy Central several weeks ago that they could not run an image of Muhammad, according to a person close to the show who didn't want to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity.

The network's decision was made over concerns for public safety, the person said.

Comedy Central said in a statement issued Thursday: "In light of recent world events, we feel we made the right decision." Its executives would not comment further.

As is often the case with Parker and Stone, they built "South Park" around the incident. In Wednesday's episode, the character Kyle is shown trying to persuade a Fox network executive to air an uncensored "Family Guy" even though it had an image of Muhammad.

"Either it's all OK, or none of it is," Kyle said. "Do the right thing."

The executive decides to strike a blow for free speech and agrees to show it. But at the point where Muhammad is to be seen, the screen is filled with the message: "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Muhammad on their network."

It is followed shortly by the images of Christ, Bush and the flag.

A frequent "South Park" critic, William Donohue of the anti-defamation group Catholic League, called on Parker and Stone to resign out of principle for being censored.

"The ultimate hypocrite is not Comedy Central -- that's their decision not to show the image of Muhammad or not -- it's Parker and Stone," he said. "Like little whores, they'll sit there and grab the bucks. They'll sit there and they'll whine and they'll take their shot at Jesus. That's their stock in trade."

Parker and Stone did not immediately respond to a request through a spokesman for comment.

It's the second run-in over religion in a few months for the satirists. Comedy Central pulled a March rerun of a "South Park" episode that mocked Scientologists. Isaac Hayes, a Scientologist who voiced the Chef character on the show, resigned in protest over the episode.

"South Park" again got the last word last month with an episode where Chef was seemingly killed and mourned as a jolly guy whose brains were scrambled by the "Super Adventure Club," which turns its members into pedophiles.

Only last week, "South Park" won broadcasting's prestigious Peabody. Awards director Horace Newcomb said at the time that by its offensiveness, the show "reminds us of the need for being tolerant."

A frequent "South Park" critic, William Donohue of the anti-defamation group Catholic League, called on Parker and Stone to resign out of principle for being censored.

"The ultimate hypocrite is not Comedy Central -- that's their decision not to show the image of Muhammad or not -- it's Parker and Stone," he said. "Like little whores, they'll sit there and grab the bucks. They'll sit there and they'll whine and they'll take their shot at Jesus. That's their stock in trade."

The satire on this show just keeps getting better. It was a very funny episode, although I'm not sure how the humour will keep after repeated viewings; but the message is one that desparately needed to be said.

The best part was where they ragged on themselves for being too preachy.

Also, while I initially thought Matt and Trey both hated Family Guy, it seems like they ended up at some sort of middle ground (i.e. Cartman hates it, and Kyle loves it), so I wouldn't be surprised if if that split was indicative of Matt and Trey's own tastes.

I got the feeling that they dig it and respect it, but wanted to make the point of how much harder their job is because of how random the Family Guy jokes can be.

but part two was just way too out there. Manatees? Bart Simpson? Cartman with a gun? Too much.

The best part is they already showed Muhammed in an episode a couple years ago. And nobody cared.

I was thinking about that too...he was in the Super Best Friends episode. I wonder if Comedy Central will rerun that episode any more?

Didn't know people still thought Family Guy was a worthwhile show.

Yeah. I've seen one or two episodes since it came back, and they both sucked. They're trying way too hard to be obnoxious.

"'The ultimate hypocrite is not Comedy Central. That's their decision not to show the image of Muhammad, not Parker and Stone,' he said. 'Like little whores, they'll sit there and grab the bucks. They'll sit there and they'll whine and they'll take their shot at Jesus. That's their stock in trade.'"

Anyone notice how the last episode (with Towelie) doesn't include any of the kids? I wonder if it's the start of Matt & Tre's revolt.

That manbearpig episode may have been the worst yet. Ouch.

That manbearpig episode may have been the worst yet. Ouch.

That manbearpig episode may have been the worst yet. Ouch.

I laughed out loud at a lot of last night's material--we could've done without the psych ward scene, but I really loved the back-to-back nods to Altered States and The Omen.

TSST! was pretty funny -- not quite brilliant, but back on track. The nanny reality shows and Dog Whisperer and Cartman's personality transformation scene had me laughing a lot.

But this episode harolded back to older seasons.

So last night's episode was pretty good. Great job of humorizing video game addiction; especially the emptiness of video game victory. I was a little surprised that it was a straight up funny episode with no political commentarty, especially in light of the recent Mel Gibson and Foley scandals; but that was also a little refreshing after last season.

OTM -- hilarious episode.

The only thing really controversial about last night's episode was the fact that the show didn't bother to make different names for anything. Blizzard was Blizzard, World of Warcraft was World of Warcraft, etc... And it was pretty darn funny.

That's because Blizzard helped them out with the episode. All of the stuff in the game was actually done by them.

shit...I thought this week was the debut. I would have liked to have seen last week's episdode, but this week's was awesome. When Cartman talked about his big prank on Butters me and my son were floored.

shit...I thought this week was the debut. I would have liked to have seen last week's episdode, but this week's was awesome. When Cartman talked about his big prank on Butters me and my son were floored.

I am finding this new season to be hilarious.

Last week's riff off Michael Richard's controversy was


And this week. Poor Butters forced to go to Deprograming Camp.

The counselor's deadpan line, "We have another one in Room 22," after introducing Butter's to his roommate.