4/12/06 - South Park

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

Originally posted by: Queasy
Comedy Central Censored Mohammed

I'm not sure if it's been reported yet, but for what it's worth, I just got off the phone with a Comedy Central spokesman. I asked him about last night's episode of South Park in which, at a moment right before the prophet Mohammed was supposed to make a cameo, the words, "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network" appeared on the screen.

I asked him whether this truly was Comedy Central's decision or whether this was just another gag (with South Park, you never know). He said:

They reflected it accurately. That was a Comedy Central decision.

Just in case there was any confusion, that settles it. Comedy Central censored the image.

No, I'm still not really convinced.

shens. show me a comedy central website and i'll believe it half of the story. you know they're called COMEDY CENTRAL

 

[aircooled]

just watched it. decent ep.

 

[Queasy]

WaPo - It was censored

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.

Supposedly, an uncensored version is being passed around the intraweb - Link

***Update II: Reader Jason E. writes, "The uncensored version of the show is already available on various P2P file sharing sites. I just watched the bit with Mohammed. It?s the same Mohammed that is shown in previous episodes, he walks in, gives Peter a salmon helmet?, says jihad, jihad a couple times and leaves. OBTW don?t know if you are aware but apparently Mohammed is briefly visible during the opening credits. I was not able to confirm this myself even after several viewings." (Ed. note: I didn't see it, either, but several other readers have mentioned this)***

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: Queasy
WaPo - It was censored

Holy crap, I really thought that was a joke.
This adds a whole new level of meaning to the episode.

 

[imported_Phil]

What.
The.
Fvck.
:|

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: Queasy
WaPo - It was censored

Holy crap, I really thought that was a joke.
This adds a whole new level of meaning to the episode.

Well, it kind of is a joke in a way. Sounds like Stone & Parker worked with the fact that they were being prevented from showing Mohammed. Which is why Kyle gave his "gay" speech about either it all being ok or none of it being ok and then showing Jesus and GWB defecating on the US Flag after the bit with Mohammed was censored.

They were taking a shot at Comedy Central.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Queasy
WaPo - It was censored

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.

Supposedly, an uncensored version is being passed around the intraweb - Link

***Update II: Reader Jason E. writes, "The uncensored version of the show is already available on various P2P file sharing sites. I just watched the bit with Mohammed. It?s the same Mohammed that is shown in previous episodes, he walks in, gives Peter a salmon helmet?, says jihad, jihad a couple times and leaves. OBTW don?t know if you are aware but apparently Mohammed is briefly visible during the opening credits. I was not able to confirm this myself even after several viewings." (Ed. note: I didn't see it, either, but several other readers have mentioned this)***

"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."

LOL@ calling it wapo too:laugh:

 

[aircooled]

link to unedited version...? torrent...?

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: aircooled
link to unedited version...? torrent...?

I'm at work right now so I'm not even going to try and look until later this evening.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Queasy
WaPo - It was censored

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.

Supposedly, an uncensored version is being passed around the intraweb - Link

***Update II: Reader Jason E. writes, "The uncensored version of the show is already available on various P2P file sharing sites. I just watched the bit with Mohammed. It?s the same Mohammed that is shown in previous episodes, he walks in, gives Peter a salmon helmet?, says jihad, jihad a couple times and leaves. OBTW don?t know if you are aware but apparently Mohammed is briefly visible during the opening credits. I was not able to confirm this myself even after several viewings." (Ed. note: I didn't see it, either, but several other readers have mentioned this)***

REVERSE PWN!!!!!!!

Nomination for ownage of the year, a huge group of people owned themselves or thought they got owned.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
REVERSE PWN!!!!!!!

Nomination for ownage of the year, a huge group of people owned themselves or thought they got owned.

I think you have a distorted view on what consitutes "Ownage Of The Year" somehow.

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: tweakmm

Originally posted by: Queasy
WaPo - It was censored

Holy crap, I really thought that was a joke.
This adds a whole new level of meaning to the episode.

Well, it kind of is a joke in a way. Sounds like Stone & Parker worked with the fact that they were being prevented from showing Mohammed. Which is why Kyle gave his "gay" speech about either it all being ok or none of it being ok and then showing Jesus and GWB defecating on the US Flag after the bit with Mohammed was censored.

They were taking a shot at Comedy Central.

I mean I thought that it was part of the episode.
I realize it was a shot at Comedy Central, thus my comment about the new level of meaning.

 

[BooGiMaN]

showing an image of Muhammad is taboo but showing Jesus defacteing is ok...

so as long as catholics and christians arent killing and bombing its ok to offend them...


what a bunch of crap...i guess their episode is true...and the comedy central execs should just bury their heads int he sand

 

[anxi80]

all i got to say is that i bet matt, trey and comedy central are having a big old laugh right now watching this all unfold. a lot of people fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

 

[DrPizza]

I loved that episode. I was laughing quite loudly a few times. (But, for the second week in a row, I figured that half of Southpark's audience would be lost on the humor.) And, Kyle's (Matt and Trey's) message was a pretty good one this time.

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: anxi80
all i got to say is that i bet matt, trey and comedy central are having a big old laugh right now watching this all unfold. a lot of people fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Ummm.. no. Comedy Central DID censor the episode. Pay attention

 

[ThunderLew]

Either way... the joke still stands to call out the hypocracy. Especially with Jesus crapping on the American flag, President Bush, and random people. No talk about censoring that part.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Phil

Originally posted by: Eeezee
REVERSE PWN!!!!!!!

Nomination for ownage of the year, a huge group of people owned themselves or thought they got owned.

I think you have a distorted view on what consitutes "Ownage Of The Year" somehow.

You say that why?
Oh, I see, because YOU were one of those who got owned.

 

[anxi80]

Originally posted by: Slick5150

Originally posted by: anxi80
all i got to say is that i bet matt, trey and comedy central are having a big old laugh right now watching this all unfold. a lot of people fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Ummm.. no. Comedy Central DID censor the episode. Pay attention

so south park purposely built up this suspense over 2 episodes to show mohammad and then comedy central cuts it last second (wow, it almost sounds almost identical to the episodes plot!)? besides if comedy central did show him, then it wouldnt have been as funny as it was.

im not going to argue whether comedy central blantly said no or not when they first proposed the idea... but i will say that i truly believe mohammad was never animated for last nights episode, nor was he ever meant to be.

 

[Qwest]

cnn


Banned by Comedy Central from showing an image of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, 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 Mohammed. 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 Mohammed, 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 Mohammed.

"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 Mohammed is to be seen, the screen is filled with the message: "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed 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 Mohammed 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."

 

[Sunrise089]

Maybe I'll get my first vacation for this, but you guys deserve what I'm about to do. When some of the early posters in this thread claimed that the episode was censored by Comedy Central, some of you geniuses decided to jump all over them with your "you just don't get it attitude". Let us review who was right and who was wrong, shall we?

Source: Yahoo.com news story from front page

Originally posted by: ScottyB
I emailed them the following (not that elegant, but to the point):

Is it true that your network censored the image of Muhammad on the 04/12/06 broadcast of South Park? If so, your executives are gutless cowards. Free speech is the hallmark of our society. Bowing down to terrorist threats is worse than the atrocities committed by such individuals. How can we live in a society where stations such as yours refuse to show humorous images because of the demands of one particular group? Your refusal to air the image is disgusting, atrocious, and sad.

100% right, and the episode's point

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

I'd be willing to bet that the "image of Muhammad" was never animated or intended to air. That was part of the episode, IMO.

Wrong, but at least you were nice

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
I'd be willing to bet that the "image of Muhammad" was never animated or intended to air. That was part of the episode, IMO.

Exactly. lol. You guys didn't get that?

Wrong, you apparently don't "get that"

Originally posted by: TecHNooB
You serious? That was the whole joke.

Nope, the joke was the Comedy Central did indeed censor the episode

Originally posted by: Phil
Self-pwnage complete.

Actually, the ?Self-pwnage? was all you

Originally posted by: EKKC
lol if he did send it. rofl!!!
that was the joke. they were trying to say that comedy central censored their scientology episode w/ tom cruise

then again, i think its cool that the joke worked out of the episode, the more letters cc gets, then the message that trey and matt tried to send really worked... because nothing in last nights ep was censored by cc.

Nope, though a parallel can be drawn to the Scientology episode, the point was the Comedy Central said they would censor an image of Muhammad

Originally posted by: smittybg
the consor on muhhamed was on purpose , it was written that way. this whole epsiode is acutally getting back at comedy central for not airing the scientology episode witch make fun the the religion of scientology. This was also the reason Issac Hayes Quit he is a part of that religion and refused to make fun of it , even though he has no probelm helphing make fun of every other religion(hes a hypocrite). That is matt and trey way of sticking it to comdey central and letting them know not to screw with their shows.

Right about Hayes. Totally wrong about the episode, it isn't about Scientology. Watch the grammar.

Originally posted by: cKGunslinger

No, I'm still not really convinced.

You should have been, the post you were responding to was correct.

Originally posted by: EKKC

shens. show me a comedy central website and i'll believe it half of the story. you know they're called COMEDY CENTRAL

Wrong on the shens
____________

OK, now all you guys, I am well aware that the episode was not censored in real time, but the actual story is that Comedy Central did tell Parker and Stone that they would censor an image of Muhammad in the interest of ?public safety?, corresponding exactly to what happened in the episode. The fact that many of you couldn't understand that is no big deal, it might only have been natural to think it was only commenting on the Scientology episode, after all SURELY Parker and Stone couldn't be right about people giving in to the terrorists by shutting down free speech whenever it isn't safe to exercise it, could they? (That was sarcasm for those who had trouble understanding the episode).

What was not OK was the arrogant tone you took with the earlier posters, especially considering how right they were and how wrong you were. Have a nice day

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: Sunrise089

What was not OK was the arrogant tone you took with the earlier posters, especially considering how right they were and how wrong you were. Have a nice day

ATOT posters taking an arrogant tone towards those they disagree with? What is this place coming to?!

 

[dethman]

super reverse ownage. lol

 

[EKKC]

Parker and Stone were angered when told by Comedy Central several weeks ago that they could not run an image of Mohammed, 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 Mohammed.

maybe it's my reading comprehension skills lacking, but from what i understand is this:

matt stone and trey parker wanted to write an ep about the danish mohammed cartoon incident, in which comedy central did not approve of

so matt and trey decided to write a whole 2 parter revolving around the incident, and i wont be surprised if they did seeing how the chef episode was about the departure of issac hayes and comedy central.

so, i still think that the 2 parter was a new story made as a message to CC (Family guy being south park, Fox being CC in this case), they took a shot at the issue/incident by writing an episode about it. the part where you see the censored blacked out words when they were showing the "family guy mohammed" was never animated?

i will only concede when i see a version of the episode without those words

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: Phil

Originally posted by: Eeezee
REVERSE PWN!!!!!!!

Nomination for ownage of the year, a huge group of people owned themselves or thought they got owned.

I think you have a distorted view on what consitutes "Ownage Of The Year" somehow.

You say that why?
Oh, I see, because YOU were one of those who got owned.

Nope. I say it because it's by no means ownage of the year. So I was wrong, big deal.

I find your other post amusing; detailing all the people that got owned and effectively pointing and laughing. I used to think you were a nice guy, but I can see you inferiority complex shining through now.