More South Park vs. Scientology drama

[dynoguy88]

Aricle from yahoo news -

'South Park'-Scientology Battle Rages On

"South Park" has declared war on Scientology. Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the animated satire, are digging in against the celebrity-endorsed religion after a controversial episode mocking outspoken Scientologist Tom Cruise was yanked abruptly from the schedule Wednesday with an Internet report saying it was covert warfare by Cruise that led to its departure.

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun!" the "South Park" creators said in a statement Friday in Daily Variety. "Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies... You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail!"

The Internet blogger hollywoodinterrupted.com said Thursday that Cruise threatened to not promote "Mission: Impossible 3," a surefire summer blockbuster, if the offending episode ran. Comedy Central is owned by Viacom, as is Paramount, which is putting out the film.

But Cruise's representative, Arnold Robinson, told The Associated Press Friday that the mega-star made no such demands.

"Not true," Robinson said. "I can tell you that he never said that."

A call by The Associated Press to a Paramount representative was not returned Friday.

The episode in question, "Trapped in the Closet," which first aired last November, shows Scientology leaders hailing Stan, one of the show's four devilish fourth-graders, as a savior. A cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won't come out. An animated John Travolta, another famous Scientologist, enters the closet to try to get him out.

The battle began in earnest earlier this week when Isaac Hayes, another celebrity Scientologist and longtime show member voicing the ladies' man Chef quit the show, saying he could no longer tolerate its religious "intolerance and bigotry."

Stone and Parker didn't buy that either.

On Monday, Stone told The Associated Press, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith in Scientology...He has no problem and he's cashed plenty of checks with our show making fun of Christians."

A Comedy Central spokesman said Friday that the network pulled the controversial episode to make room for two shows featuring Hayes.

"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," the spokesman said.

[TJL]

I can believe that Paramount doesn't want to create a conflict of interest especially when they have a big blockbuster movie to promote.

Rolling Stone Magazine had a great article about Scrientology a few weeks back - they are a very wealthy, well connected and powerful organization, and they don't like to be messed with.

[Lurker]

The Cult of Scientology does have a lot of money. Not because they have a lot of members (less than 100,000), but because the ones they have are rich.

Even tho they have a lot of money, they would be hard pressed to stop the south park gang from making fun of them by using the courts. Parody is protected speech.

The only way to get them, is to hold things up in court, costing the network money. Or use behind the scene tactics that they used here. (Tom Cruise Blackmailing them).

Unfortunatly we have already see that Comedy Central is under the cults control. I can only hope that the SouthPark folks can get around this somehow. They need to get a viewer campain going. Or at least do a few direct to dvd episodes that really hammer the cult

[dynoguy88]

Here's another article from yahoo news -

"The Closet," the Controversy--and Cruise
Sunday March 19 9:21 PM ET

By Joal Ryan



Wednesday night on South Park, Robert Redford got zinged, and Chef urged one and all to "suck on my chocolate salty balls."

The controversial part was what didn't air: A closet.

"Trapped in the Closet," a South Park episode featuring a literally closeted Tom Cruise and a primer on Scientology, was abruptly pulled from Comedy Central's schedule, and replaced with a nearly eight-year-old chestnut spoofing the Sundance Film Festival.

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The network wouldn't confirm or comment Friday on why "Trapped in the Closet" was shelved in favor of the 1998 episode "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls."

Cruise's rep, however, did comment: "This has nothing to do with us," publicist Arnold Robinson said Friday.

Cruise, a Scientologist who has staunchly defended his religion and an avowed heterosexual who has successfully sued people and publications that have suggested he is in the metaphorical closet, was pegged as the culprit in the South Park switcheroo in a report Thursday on HollywoodInterrupted.com.

The blog reported that the star "threatened" to sit out the publicity cycle for Mission: Impossible 3--presumably meaning no interviews, no photo-ops, no Oprah couch--if "Trapped in a Closet" aired again on Comedy Central.

M:I-3 is due to be released in May by Paramount, which is the corporate sibling of Comedy Central, which is, like Paramount, owned by Viacom.

Specifically responding to Cruise's reputed corporate power play, rep Robinson said: "That is not true."

This is not the first time Cruise has been linked to the closing of "Closet." In January, Britain's Sun reported the episode would "never" air in the United Kingdom because TV executives there were "scared [Cruise] will sue." (The episode apparently aired without incident in Canada a few days later.)

This also isn't the first time Comedy Central has been accused of caving. Last December, a Catholic rights' group took credit for the network pulling reruns of South Park's Virgin Mary-skewering ninth season finale, "Bloody Mary."

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, meanwhile, have weighed in on the latest controversy--with fighting words.

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun!" the self-described "servants of the dark lord Xenu" said in a statement Thursday that does not mention Cruise. "Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies."

Earlier this week, Parker and Stone publicly parted ways with Isaac Hayes, the longtime voice of Chef, after the "Shaft" legend complained South Park had gone too far in satirizing religion. The duo said Hayes, a Scientologist, never complained about the show until it took on Scientologists.

"Trapped in the Closet" first aired last Nov. 16. In it, a cartoon version of Cruise enters a closet, and doesn't come out for quite a while. Cruise is eventually joined in the closet by fellow Scientologist John Travolta and R&B singer R. Kelly, who wrote the soap opera of a song that shares its name with the episode title.

Also in the episode, South Park tyke Stan is recruited to join the Church of Scientology, and, in the process, gets an earful about "frozen alien bodies," Hawaiian volcanoes and the "evil lord Xenu."

"Guys, you got it [Scientology] all wrong," Hayes said he told Parker and Stone in a January interview with The A.V. Club. "We're not like that."

Comedy Central would not say if "Trapped in the Closet" will reair at a later date, or if it will be included in South Park's syndication package.

Video clips from the episode, including the bits with Cruise and the closet, and Stan and the Scientologists, can be found on the Comedy Central Website.

In a bit of timing that is said to be coincidental and not at all related to the "Closet" controversy, South Park begins its 10th season next Wednesday.

[hatwink]

This battle will probably go on for awhile, as long as Tom Cruise is on his tangent.