http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/muslim-group-says-it-is-warning-not-threatening-south-park-creators/An Islamic group based in New York compared the “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to Theo Van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker who was killed by an Islamic militant, and said that a recent episode of that satirical animated series insulted the Prophet Muhammad, CNN reported. The group, Revolution Muslim, published its post after a “South Park” episode last week that depicted the founders of various religions, including Moses, Jesus and Buddha, but declined to show the Prophet Muhammad outright and instead represented him as wearing a bear costume.The post, written by Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, said that the episode “outright insulted” the prophet, adding: We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.Mr. Van Gogh was slain in Amsterdam in 2004 after making a film that discussed the abuse of Muslim women in some Islamic societies. Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker have mocked Comedy Central for refusing to allow them to depict the Prophet Muhammad on “South Park” in a series of episodes that were broadcast after the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons satirizing Muhammad.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/south-park-episode-is-altered-after-muslim-groups-warning/The new episode of “South Park” on Wednesday night tried to revisit this character, but with the name and depiction of the character blocked out. It was unclear how much of the bleeping was Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker’s decision. In a message posted on their Web site, SouthParkStudios.com, they wrote that they could not immediately stream the new episode on the site because: After we delivered the show, and prior to broadcast, Comedy Central placed numerous additional audio bleeps throughout the episode. We do not have network approval to stream our original version of the show.On Thursday morning, a spokesman for Comedy Central confirmed that the network had added more bleeps to the episode than were in the cut delivered by South Park Studios, and that it was not giving permission for the episode to run on the studio’s Web site.On Thursday afternoon, Trey Parker and Matt Stone released the following statement: In the 14 years we’ve been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn’t stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn’t some meta-joke on our part. Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle’s customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn’t mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too. We’ll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we’ll see what happens to it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/22/south-park-mohammed-censo_n_547484.htmlhe irony of it all? The pair did a show that included an image of Muhammad years before and a clip of it (pictured below) runs during the show's opening in dozens of countries, in syndication, on Comedy Central, but garnered no attention.Last night's episode is not available on SouthParkStudios.com unlike every other episode the pair have produced.
That's the reason why they used a teddy bear to represent Mohamed.
(scatalogical muhammad)
However, please don't go out of your way to post 'even grosser' images, as I think the point has been made.
There are some things I would object to on the grounds of, shall we say--and without being too literal--bad taste. However, in the present context, when we are faced with real examples of having our freedom of speech curtailed in deference to the likes of Osama Bin Laden: "As Usama bin Laden said with regard to the cartoons of Denmark," Chesser wrote, "'If there is no check in the freedom of your words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions.'"...then I would regard (scatalogical muhammad) as a sane response to such attempts at intimidation.However, please don't go out of your way to post 'even grosser' images, as I think the point has been made.
I see a line in the sand being drawn...bravo!Seattle cartoonist launches "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day"http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=313170
Pakistan blocks Facebook and Youtube during "Everbody Draw Muhammad Day" (May 20, 2010)http://voices.washingtonpost.com/comic-riffs/2010/05/draw_muhammad_day_pakistan_exp.html