South Park Turns It’s Sights Towards Scientology And Winds Up In The Crosshairs Of The Hollywood Gestapo
South Park, that raunchy cartoon and equal opportunity lampooner for children over the age of 18, satirizes just about everything including the American flag. In fact, I just completed some brief research and I was able to find a half dozen examples where the American flag is mocked, which in the context of the show is really no big deal.
A more egregious example and a favorite target for creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker is Jesus, who lives in South Park and has a radio program. That Christians (or even non-Christians who aren’t predisposed to find the F word repeated over and over again particularly funny) might find this show offensive, has never been an issue.
South Park airs on cable, not a broadcast network, and is therefore not subject to FCC rules and besides, this is America. Free speech is the law of the land. The self-righteous and self-appointed defenders of American freedom who also happen to be those slippery members of the Screen Actors Guild will defend the right of South Park to trash the American flag and Christians till the cows come home.
But in the land of Hollywood, where throwing Christians to the lions in the figurative sense is a popular pastime, tolerance and free speech cannot be tolerated when it comes to poking fun at Scientology. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Scientology, it is the invention of L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction novelist. Hubbard had some difficulty hitting the big-time with his novels, primarliy because they weren’t any good, so he hit on the idea of starting his own religion that he could charge people money to join. The rest is a very lucrative history.
Scientology has gained quite a following in Hollywood, including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, presumably because people with a lot of excess cash don’t mind spending it on initiation fees to join a religion, as long as that religion isn’t Christian. And now the Hollywood Scientologists, led by Cruise have come down hard on South Park.
Comedy Central this week pulled a South Park episode from the line-up because it apparently takes some swipes at Scientology. Comedy Central parent Viacom is also the outfit that will be soon be releasing Mission Impossible 3 starring Cruise and it’s obvious that he’s behind the censor although he officially denies it.
The South Park episode reportedly features Cruise and Travolta in the typical unflattering way that the show depicts everyone else. Also offended is singer Issac Hayes who does the voice of one of the South Park characters. Hayes has tendered his resignation from the show after expressing disgust with the show’s insensitivity towards religion in general.
South Park’s Stone however, disagrees with that assesment, saying of Hayes, “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.”
The moral of the story is this: Portraying Christians in the most offensive ways imaginable will make you a hero with the Hollywood left. Stray off the reservation, particularly with Scientology or Islam, and you could end up the target of a Hollywood Jihad.