They still haven't been shown on UK TV or released on region 2 DVD.Īll this, despite the fact that Muhammad actually appeared uncensored and without any furore in an earlier episode. Based in fictional South Park, Colorado, the animated show follows the adventures of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. However, the network stated that the safety of their employees was the most important thing. South Park is the brainchild of creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. This move was heavily criticised by fans, cartoonists and academics.
Before the follow-up episode, real-life radical Muslim group Revolution Muslim warned that there would be violent responses if South Park depicted Muhammad, and that Matt and Trey would "probably end up like Theo Van Gogh", a director who was murdered by an Islamic extremist.īecause of this, Comedy Central heavily censored '201', placing another black box over all appearances of Muhammad, and bleeping out a huge discussion spoken by Kyle, Jesus and Santa about free speech. Muhammad is placed inside a bear suit in order to not cause offence, however it is revealed to actually be Santa Claus inside. However, he only agrees to drop the lawsuit if he can meet Muhammad. Follow everyones favorite troublemakers-Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny-from the very beginning of their unforgettable adventures. The episode '200' celebrated the many people that South Park has offended over the years, by having them all team up to sue the town, led by Tom Cruise. Relive the dawn of the South Park era, with legendary episodes of the groundbreaking, Emmy Award-winning animated classic. However, as the Family Guy episode airs, the real-world Comedy Central replaced the picture of Muhammad with a black screen with the words: "Comedy Central will not allow an image of Muhammad to be broadcast on their network." This was followed by a pointed coda, in which terrorist leader Ayman al-Zawahiri responds with a picture of Jesus Christ defecating on George Bush and the American flag.īut it didn't end there. When it is revealed that Family Guy plans to show Muhammad uncensored, it creates mass panic, with the boys unsure which side to belong to: freedom of speech, sensitivity to others, or just hatred of Family Guy. At first, Cartoon Wars seemed to just be an excuse to lay into rival Family Guy, where the show's cut-away gags were written by manatees who build stories by fishing for balls with jokes and pop culture references attached to them.īut what made the episode iconic was its attempt to portray Muhammad onscreen, right after the ongoing controversy surrounding the publication of Danish cartoons depicting Islam's principal religious figure. Parker and Stone reportedly received death threats in response to the episodes.Woah, this is a biggie.
Series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone revisited the subject of censorship in episodes "200" and "201," the latter being deemed particularly incendiary and which saw Comedy Central beefing up security around their offices. These episodes were produced following the protests and violence sparked by Danish newspaper cartoon depictions of Muhammad, as well as the assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim man who objected to van Gogh's short film Submission: Part 1. The episodes explored the themes of censorship, free speech, and fear, but were also censored by Comedy Central to remove any on-screen depictions or mentions of Muhammad.
In IGN's "Super Best Friends" review, we said, "While this isn't one of South Park's best episodes of all time, it stands out because of the sheer audacity of incorporating just about all of the world's major religions in one silly joke." South Park then explored, in its own very meta way, the furor over depicting the prophet in the two-parter "Cartoon Wars," which chronicled the uproar over a cartoon's (in this case, Family Guy) attempt to broadcast an uncensored version of the Prophet Muhammad. Even so, the episode aired without much controversy in 2005 and was only censored in later years. "Super Best Friends" portrayed a superhero team made up of religious figures such as Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Krishna, and Muhammad, the latter being strictly prohibited from being figuratively depicted in Islam.