South Park and Scientology
Just watched a torrent file of the new South Park episode taking on Scientology. Like the episode which mocked Mel Gibson, it was a bit weak. It dwells too long on the 'Tom Cruise is secretly gay' motif and paints the Scientologists as a mere bunch of corporate scam artists rather than a nefarious life-destroying cult. Twenty years from now they'll probably be using the clip in the middle depicting their creation myth for educational purposes.
- sheikh X at 8:15 PM
7 Comments:
it seems that Chef quit the show over this. apparently the jewibilee and santa fighting jesus while lucifer looks on were just healthy, biting satire- but this episode crossed all the boundaries of good taste!
Co-creator Matt Stone had this to say to the AP: we never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin.
p.s. does this mean, departing from Spengler's comments cited below, that a Jew without a sense of humor or a sense of the absurd becomes a scientologist?
I credit 95 percent of what I know and understand about both Scientology AND Mormonism to South Park. Is that bad?
no way matt - it makes you super-qualified, just like the legions of twenty-something year olds whose political expertise was acquired at the feet of jon stewart.
problem is that these shows are great satire for viewers who know something about the object being mocked. but for everyone else, they are just an exercise in nastiness and group identity through hatred.
wait! stop the press, this just in (from FOX):
Isaac Hayes did not quit "South Park." My sources say that someone quit it for him.
I can tell you that Hayes is in no position to have quit anything. Contrary to news reports, the great writer, singer and musician suffered a stroke on Jan. 17. At the time it was said that he was hospitalized and suffering from exhaustion.
It’s also absolutely ridiculous to think that Hayes, who loved playing Chef on "South Park," would suddenly turn against the show because they were poking fun at Scientology.
...
The truth is, Hayes has a sly sense of humor and loves everything about "South Park." It’s provided him a much-needed income stream since losing the royalties to the many hits he’s written, such as “Shaft” and “Soul Man,” in the mid-1970s.
Even though he’s one of America’s most prolific hit writers, Hayes has been denied access to profits from his own material for almost 30 years.
But it’s hard to know anything since Hayes, like Katie Holmes, is constantly monitored by a Scientologist representative most of the time. Luckily, at the Blues Ball he was on his own, partying just with family and friends. He was very excited about having gotten married and about the impending birth of a new child.
Friends in Memphis tell me that Hayes did not issue any statements on his own about South Park. They are mystified.
“Isaac’s been concentrating on his recuperation for the last two and a half, three months,” a close friend told me.
Hayes did not suffer paralysis, but the mild stroke may have affected his speech and his memory. He’s been having home therapy since it happened.
That certainly begs the question of who issued the statement that Hayes was quitting "South Park" now because it mocked Scientology four months ago. If it wasn’t Hayes, then who would have done such a thing?
here is a fantastic quote from the episode:
What's better than telling people a stupid story and having them believe you?
Having them pay you for it, stupid!
scientology is getting some great PR out of this! tom criuse kicks up a stink and bittorrent downloads of the episode go nuts ; hayes 'quits' and fox lets the public know that he's being manipulated by the cult.
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