The powers that be at Comedy Central butchered last night's episode of "South Park" in response to an implied threat on the lives of the show's creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker.
Following the airing of last week's episode, which featured a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bear costume, along with other major religious figures, Stone and Parker received word that their irreverence was endangering their own lives. Islam is said to forbid any depiction of its most holy prophet.
"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," read a posting on RevolutionMuslim.com. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."
Van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker, was assassinated in 2004 following several threats on his life due to a short he directed called "Submission," that chronicled violence against women in some Muslim countries.
Undaunted by the idiocy of zealots, Parker and Stone delivered the second part of the episode, which was to be aired last night. What viewers saw instead was a version edited at the direction of higher-ups, presumably in an effort not to engender any more threats or outrage.
Sadly, this isn't the first time that Comedy Central has taken a box-cutter to "South Park" in deference religio-fascists. In the wake of the outrage sparked by a series of cartoons depicting Muhammad that were published in 2006 in a Danish newspaper, the network refused to air episode of the show that mocked the reaction to the cartoons.
