[aldo_14]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/20/south_park_repeat/

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have all but declared war on the Church of Scientology following member Tom Cruise's successful move to have episode Trapped in the Closet pulled from US screens.

Comedy Central canned a repeat of the offending programme due to air last Wednesday, provoking the show's creators to declare to Variety: "So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies.
"Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

The episode which initially provoked the titanic struggle between Scientology and South Park features Tom Cruise refusing to come out of the closet into which he has locked himself after Stan - believed by the Cruise character to be the reincarnation of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard - unfavourably compared Cruise's acting abilities to those of Leonardo di Caprio. The programme rolls out a continual stream of characters - including Nicole Kidman and fellow Scientologist John Travolta - begging the Mission Impossible star to "come out of the closet", without success.

Despite Parker and Stone's sabre-rattling, The Church of Scientology won a significant victory last week when Isaac Hayes - who had played Chef since 1997 - quit South Park due to its "inappropriate ridicule" of religion.

Scientologist Hayes said: "There is a place in this world for satire but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs begins."

Stone responded: "In 10 years and over 150 episodes of South Park, Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslim, Mormons or Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show."

Hayes' resignation seems to have been the reason behind Comedy Central's decision to axe the Trapped in the Closet repeat. The channel replaced it with another episode featuring Chef and his tasty "Chocolate Salty Balls".

I really just want to goad Hollywood alumni into replying

[Martinus]

Time to start proliferating that episode via p2p it would seem.

[aldo_14]

Time to start proliferating that episode via p2p it would seem.

P2P?  I think they released it freely on tinternet.

[an0n]

Xenu.net has it up for HTTP download.

[an0n]

Nurts. They got flooded and changed it to a torrent.

[karajorma]

Well done scientology. You have now made it a certainty that even people who don't regluarly watch South Park will want to see them take the piss of you.

[Turnsky]

Well done scientology. You have now made it a certainty that even people who don't regluarly watch South Park will want to see them take the piss of you.

Cruise makes enough of a fool of himself and scientology without others having to do it for him... perhaps he should outsource to a mockery company, or something, though.

let's face it, folks, america has more nutjobs and wierdos than any other country in the world. 

[Rictor]

Streaming episode ahoy!


edit: There was also a nice and hilarious pdf going around, it was on digg, but apparently it got yanked. Unbelievable. I'll try to find it.

also, there's a nice investigative report here
http://www.xenutv.com/trust/policevideo.htm

[Blue Lion]

Cruise didn't want to pull the episode, he didn't even know it was airing.

He probably doesn't even care.

[Omniscaper]

Just watched the episode......



WHAA HAHAHAHAHA HAAH AAHAA HAAAHAHA


Now THAT is Just ***in hilarious

Funny how a scientology, hit a nerve causeing Isaac Haye's leaving. Christians,Buddhists,  muslims, jews, have been made fun of in that show for awhile now. But I guess Isaac must fight the evil XENU!!!!

Interesting, South Park..., acronym, "SP"... ha ha ha ha.

[Deepblue]

I think we can all learn a lesson from this...

It's okay to make fun of main-stream religions but blasphemous to make light of the silly little ones.

[Nuclear1]

This episode isn't a new one is it? I know I've seen this one before.

Still, funny.

[BlackDove]

This was a much more amusing reason as far as I'm concerned.

Tom Cruise blackmailed Comedy Central to cancel Wednesday night's airing of the 'South Park' episode about Scientology by warning that he would not promote 'Mission Impossible 3' if they did. Comedy Central and Paramount Studios are both owned by Viacom. Paramount is the studio relying on 'MI3' to be their summer blockbuster. The Scientology episode first aired last November, and was set to rerun Wednesday night, but was mysteriously pulled at the last minute. Reports say Cruise went straight to the top and warned he'd boycott the promotion for 'MI3' unless the episode was pulled. 'South Park' creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have been given a strict gag order not to discuss Crusie or his actions.

The bad news is that Comedy Central is a bunch of pussies. The good news is that the execs at Paramount have no memory, and don't seem to remember what Tom Cruise was like when he promoted 'War of the Worlds'. He just barely doesn't need to be kept on a leash, they should lock him in a freezer, not book him on Oprah again. His insanity has gone untreated for another year, so the odds of him doing the Today show wearing a crocodile head for a hat and the pants to a suit of armor are somewhere around 110 percent.

Doesn't sound much true, but it sounds just whacked enough to be true. I mean after all, we're talking about Scientology. Anything's possible.

[Blue Lion]

Hasn't it been aired before?

[achtung]

Many times.

[Mongoose]

Meh, I really don't find South Park all that funny.  Much ado about nothing.

[Blue Lion]

Many times.

Then it seems odd he would want it pulled now. I think more than likely Comedy Central just felt like pulling it.

[watsisname]

Meh, I really don't find South Park all that funny.  Much ado about nothing.

Personally I think South Park does a great job of making fun of politics science, and religion... albeit in a very strange and obscene manner.

[Bobboau]

I haven'twached an eppisode of SP in like years, but I'm now going to wach this, well done tom cruse and scientology on keeping this eppisode away from people.

the ending was very VERY apropriot
http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/blackwater/SPSCI.avi

[Ace]

He just barely doesn't need to be kept on a leash, they should lock him in a freezer, not book him on Oprah again. His insanity has gone untreated for another year, so the odds of him doing the Today show wearing a crocodile head for a hat and the pants to a suit of armor are somewhere around 110 percent.

Ah, so in other words he'll become an Orc shaman!