Free Republic

The “South Park” creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have issued a statement in response to Comedy Central’s decision to alter an episode after a Muslim group’s warning: 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...

NEW YORK (April 22) -- After a radical Islamic group issued a thinly veiled threat against the creators of "South Park," the network aired an episode with references to and depictions of the Prophet Muhammad blocked out. A note on the show's website said Comedy Central had inserted "numerous additional audio bleeps throughout" the show, adding "we do not have network approval to stream our original version of the show." The episode was the second half of a storyline that began last week with an episode depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit. A day later, a blog post...

Dear Viewer, Thank you for your correspondence regarding the "South Park" episodes entitled "Cartoon Wars." We appreciate your concerns about censorship and the destructive influence of outside groups on the media, entertainment industry and particularly Comedy Central. To reiterate, as satirists, we believe that it is our First Amendment right to poke fun at any and all people, groups, organizations and religions and we will continue to defend that right. Our goal is to make people laugh and perhaps, if we're lucky, even make them think in the process. Comedy Central's belief in the First Amendment has not wavered, despite...

South Park Executive Producer Reveals That Comedy Central Censored the Showing of Mohammed out of Fear, not "Religious Tolerance."On Wednesday night, the cable network Comedy Central showed a censored episode of the animated cartoon, South Park, refusing to allow a brief depiction of the prophet Mohammed. The battles between the network and the producers and creators of South Park over the inclusion of Mohammed raged until late Tuesday night, less than 24 hours before the show aired Wednesday at 10pm ET. Interview With Producer Reveals Reason for Censorship was "Fear"In an interview Thursday evening, South Park Executive Producer Anne Garefino...