South Park Episode 201: Censored Speech Was No Joke

By: Edecio Martinez
Topics: Daily Blotter

South Park (Comedy Central)

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the producers and brains behind "South Park," said Thursday that Comedy Central censored a speech about intimidation and fear from their show after a radical Muslim group warned that they could be killed for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

According to a statement released by the duo, the bleeps inserted throughout the controversial episode, particularly during about 35 seconds of dialogue between the cartoon characters of Kyle, Jesus Christ and Santa Claus, was not a joke or commentary on censorship, as some had speculated.

"It wasn't some meta-joke on our part," Parker and Stone said.

Earlier this week, the radical group Revolution Muslim said on its website that "South Park" had insulted their prophet during its 200th episode by depicting him in a bear costume.

The group said it wasn't threatening Parker and Stone, but the web post included a gruesome picture of Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker killed by a Muslim extremist in 2004, and said the producers could meet the same fate.

The website posted the addresses of Comedy Central's New York office and the California production studio where "South Park" is made.

Despite that, Parker and Stone included the Muhammad character in this week's episode. Muhammad appeared with his body obscured by a black box labeled "censored," since Muslims consider a physical representation of their prophet to be blasphemous.

Parker and Stone said that in 14 years of making "South Park," which just had its 200th episode, they've never delivered an episode they couldn't stand behind.

"Kyle's customary final speech was about intimidation and fear," they said. "It didn't mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped...We'll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we'll see what happens to it."

Besides the censored dialogue, only one inside joke in this week's episode could be interpreted as a reference to the Muslim group's warning.

During one scene, a mechanized Barbara Streisand robot is seen stomping through the town on a path of destruction. One voice is heard to say, "they've destroyed La Casa Bonita!"

"La Casa Bonita" is the name of Parker and Stone's production facility.

Comedy Central declined to comment.

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April 22, 2010 - South Park 201 Censored: Radical Islamic Death Warning Follows Muhammad Episode

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by ronjeanjr April 27, 2011 3:55 AM EDT: The very simple reason 201 was & stayed censored is because the terrorists won the war on terror on April 21st, 2010. Terrorism is the use of terror [FEAR] to control others [in this case, the USA]. Caving in with fear of attack, by forcing censorship on this episode, means that the terrorists officially, unargueably won. That's all they wanted, is to control the entire world with FEAR [terror], and this is the proof that it works perfectly!; Reply to this comment

by MrsRoid June 19, 2010 2:15 AM EDT

What is sickening is how I heard the creators are going to be releasing a new episode about Jesus, Why is this? Because the media hype in the last 5 years has been less violent around the christian/catholic peoples?

Matt n Trey parker got scared?
I think so....

For educational purposes, Its still possible to see 201, I recommend <a href="http://spepisode.org/">South Park Episode</a>

Why this episode received such attention and was even bleeped quite alot I dont know

Reply to this comment


by frankiep1222 June 21, 2010 5:15 PM EDT: what in the hell are you talking about MrsRoid. "Matt n Trey parker got scared? I think so..."
you think its sickening that they are going to be releasing a new episode about jesus huh. well, they have already made at least two episodes i can think of specifically addressing jesus and christianity long before this. and in the episode "super best friends" which aired july 2001, they made fun of both jesus and muhammad along with a slew of other religious figures. and before turning in their production of "201" to comedy central, they got threats from muslim extremists, and instead of cowering, they stood up for what they believed in and turned in their show unedited. Please open this link and fast foreward to 5:00 in, it is only about 30 secs and it should show you why your post about them being scared and also picking on jesus next is wrong.


by frankiep1222 June 21, 2010 5:15 PM EDT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEsX9rj4w-0&playnext_from=TL&videos=4sIxnrEken4

by MR-DC April 28, 2010 12:49 AM EDT

Wow, I can't believe some of the posts on here. Who flippin' cares if it offends somebody! Guess what you do when you don't like something on TV: You don't watch it! You can change the channel, just as you get flip the page, or walk out of the room, or -now hold your hats, this is profoud- you can come to the realisation that it is a JOKE and GET OVER IT! That is certainly a much easier and humane way to deal with this propblem, compared to all this censorship and fearmongering. As human beings we should strive for freedom of expression, not freedom from being offended.

How anyone can justify this sort of censorship because "its in our culture not in Muslim culture" is beyond me. Who cares if it isn't their "culture". Since when is it okay for one group impose its views and restrictions on everyone else (lots of NON-muslims watch South Park)? There are a lot of opinions out there, should we be able to censor everyone who we disagree with? What an absolutely disgusting society that would be.

Reply to this comment


by Comminsense April 29, 2010 7:09 PM EDT: And an absolutley disgusting society it is BECOMING!


by MR-DC April 28, 2010 12:49 AM EDT: Wow, I can't believe some of the posts on here. Who flippin' cares if it offends somebody! Guess what you do when you don't like something on TV: You don't watch it! You can change the channel, just as you get flip the page, or walk out of the room, or -now hold your hats, this is profoud- you can come to the realisation that it is a JOKE and GET OVER IT! That is certainly a much easier and humane way to deal with this propblem, compared to all this censorship and fearmongering. As human beings we should strive for freedom of expression, not freedom from being offended.

How anyone can justify this sort of censorship because "its in our culture not in Muslim culture" is beyond me. Who cares if it isn't their "culture". Since when is it okay for one group impose its views and restrictions on everyone else (lots of NON-muslims watch South Park)? There are a lot of opinions out there, should we be able to censor everyone who we disagree with? What an absolutely disgusting society that would be.; Reply to this comment


by romirockstar April 27, 2010 4:03 AM EDT: well Muslim are not making fun of Jesus Christ we are making ourselves making fun of Jesus yes its true freedom of speech is our tradition but its in our culture not in Muslim culture and its good step that comedy central and south park stop this EP for going on air cuz Muslim respect their Prophet and i think we are making fun which is not good; Reply to this comment


by romirockstar April 27, 2010 4:02 AM EDT: well Muslim are not making fun of Jesus Christ we are making ourselves making fun of Jesus yes its true freedom of speech is our tradition but its in our culture not in Muslim culture and its good step that comedy central and south park stop this EP for going on air cuz Muslim respect their Prophet and i think we are making fun which is not good; Reply to this comment


by cbs_bull April 25, 2010 12:24 AM EDT: Why we can't insult Muhammad if Muslims are insulting Jesus Christ everyday? They call us infidel every single day. But I agree, given the current situation, that it'd be foolish to insult Muhammad in some countries with the majority population are Muslims. But we should be able to make jokes about Muhammad or Jesus in our own country. The freedom of speech is our tradition. We can't yield to those outsiders who want to change our tradition.; Reply to this comment


by jackfluffy April 23, 2010 11:50 AM EDT: Every media outlet across the entire globe should agree that on a specific date and time they will all simultaneously broadcast an image of Mohammed. Radical Muslims cannot target everyone (any more than they already do). Perhaps then this issue would become a non-issue in the future.
The whole thing with the death threats makes me furious; these radicals need either to join the rest of us in the modern, civilized world, or to be wiped out entirely. Enough is enough.; Reply to this comment