It's not that surprising that Trey Parker and Matt Stone once went so far on "South Park" that they alienated one of their own cast members... or so they thought.

One of the most famous episodes of the show was Season 9's "Trapped in the Closet," an episode that lampoons the Church of Scientology and its most famous member, Tom Cruise. Unfortunately, they not only garnered anger from the church itself (as well as Cruise), but the episode also resulted in Hayes leaving "South Park" (and his character, Chef, getting killed off in the Season 10 premiere, ironically titled "The Return of Chef").




Himself a Scientologist, Hayes ostensibly quit the show in protest of its mockery of his religion, but he would later contradict this by claiming he was leaving because of a pay dispute.

Either way, Chef was killed off at the beginning of the show's 10th season in yet another episode lampooning Hayes' involvement in the Church. (It's since been alleged by his son that he was forced to exit the series by Scientology.)

Hayes passed away in 2008, and Chef has remained absent from future seasons of the animated series.

https://www.tvline.com/2061145/most-controversial-tv-show-exits/