South Park – Scientology issue

This is the entire Scientology episode of South Park that Tom Cruise tried to force off the air and made Isaac Hayes quit as Chef.

If you haven’t heard about this… Tom Cruise got Comedy Central to cancel a REPEAT of a South Park episode about Scientology (that’s right, the episode has already aired once on the network) by threatening to pull out of his promotion of the shoot ’em up Mission Impossible 3 movie to release this summer. Paramount is owned by Viacom, which also owns Comedy Central is banking on the blockbuster to … well not bust, pulled the show in accordance of the wishes of ol’ Tom.

Regarding Issac Hayes, who participated in the South Park show for years that lampooned every religion, faith, and culture, pulled out of the show because the pressure was put on by the cult… *cough* um I mean the “church” of Scientology, to kill his involvement in the satire. Next you have his response:

“There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins,” the soul legend said. “Religious beliefs are sacred to people and at all times should be respected and honored. As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices.”

Evidently, the place for satire is when the show’s talking about Christianity. Or Judaism. Or Buddhism. Or Islam. Or Hinduism. Or farting Canadians. Or, really, anything that’s not Scientology…

Past episodes of South Park have skewered Catholics, Jews and Mormons, among others. However, according to Stone, he and Parker “never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. “He wants a different standard for religions

Preach on Brotha!

Scientology in the Subway

I came across a blog from a local here and I wanted to repost an interesting point Maximus makes on the recent rash of MTA commemorated posters for the 100th anniversary of the subway. This particular case is the artist, Kathy Jakobsen, is a committed Scientologist. She not only used the poster to promote her own religion, but also to plug a children’s book she wrote and a museum that exhibits her work. Sneaky and obnoxiously self-promoting.

(The Scientologists have a track record of dishonest self-promotion… e.g., secretly buying huge quantities of their own books to get them on the best-seller lists.)

Check out “Scientology in the Subway” post for pictures of the posters and additional comments