South Park

Comedy Central's Anti-Semitic Video Game: 'You Lied To Me, Jew Producer'
By Noel Sheppard | May 24, 2010 | 2:09 AM EDT

Around the same time they were caving in to pressure to delete all Mohammed references from an episode of "South Park," the geniuses at Comedy Central posted an online video game containing truly staggering anti-Semitic images.

This abomination was originally called "I.S.R.A.E.L. Attack!" due to the lead character being a murderous robot named "I.S.R.A.E.L." -- "Intelligent Smart Robot Animation Eraser."

As the game opens, the villain says, "You lied to me, Jew Producer" (video follows with lots of commentary, h/t Weasel Zippers):

‘Hollywood is Running Scared of Radical Islam,’ Says MRC’s Dan Gainor
By NB Staff | May 7, 2010 | 6:04 PM EDT
Dan Gainor, Vice-President of Business and Culture at the MRC, appeared on the May 7 broadcast of Fox News's "America Live" to discuss the double standard at Comedy Central when it comes to mocking religious figures.

Two weeks ago, Comedy Central banned "South Park" creators from mocking the prophet Mohammed because network executives didn't want to offend Muslim followers. This week, the network announced a new show, "JC," which according to the Hollywood Reporter, features Jesus Christ as a son "wanting to escape the shadow of his ‘powerful but apathetic father' and live a regular life in New York City."

Gainor told host Megyn Kelly that this newest program shows "how out of touch Comedy Central and Hollywood are" and that "Hollywood is running scared of radical Islam."

Two Weeks After Censoring 'South Park,' Comedy Central Debuts Cartoon Jesus Show
By Lachlan Markay | May 6, 2010 | 11:16 AM EDT
Guess who said this: "In general, comedy in purist form always makes some people uncomfortable." Nope, it wasn't Lenny Bruce or George Carlin. It was Comedy Central's head of original programming Kent Alterman, who was defending the network's new animated show, "JC," which centers on (read: mocks) Jesus Christ.

This, of course, is the same Comedy Central that two weeks ago forbade the show "South Park" from even speaking the name of the Muslim prophet Mohammed for fear of offending that faith's followers. So at Comedy Central, apparently, making people uncomfortable by poking fun at their beliefs is fine. Unless those people are Muslims.

This is nothing revelatory -- the double standard has existed at least since the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published depictions of Mohammed, sparking worldwide protests. But Comedy Central's unveiling of "JC" a mere 15 days after a heavily censored "South Park" episode went on air serves to drive home just how absurd and offensive to the values of a free society this double standard is.
Police Investigate Link Between 'South Park' Threats and Times Square Car Bomb
By Noel Sheppard | May 3, 2010 | 1:42 AM EDT

Police are apparently investigating whether or not there is a link between threats to the creators of the hit cartoon series "South Park" and Saturday's failed car bomb attempt in New York's Times Square.

As NewsBusters reported a few weeks ago, Muslim extremists threatened the lives of Trey Parker and Matt Stone due to an episode featuring the prophet Mohammed dressed in a bear's suit.

Comedy Central caved to the pressure and eliminated all such references.

New York's Daily News reported Sunday there might be a link between those threats and what happened in Times Square the previous evening:

Cartoonist Calling For 'Draw Mohammed Day' Switches to 'Draw Al Gore Day'
By Noel Sheppard | April 30, 2010 | 1:20 PM EDT

The Seattle cartoonist that created "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" has changed her request to "Everybody Draw Al Gore Day."

As readers are likely aware, Molly Norris last week published a cartoon calling for a nationwide protest over Comedy Central's decision to censor its two-part episode involving the prophet Mohammed:

Do your part to both water down the pool of targets and, oh yeah, defend a little something our country is famous for (but maybe not for long? Comedy Central cooperated with terrorists and pulled the episode) the first amendment. 

On Thursday, Norris posted a video at her website explaining why she created the first cartoon, and directed her followers to instead take up a splinter campaign started by a group called "I Hate The Media!", namely "Everybody Draw Al Gore Day" (video follows with copies of both cartoons, h/t WaPo's Comic Riffs): 

George Mason Reviewing Author of South Park Death Threats
By Rusty Weiss | April 29, 2010 | 10:36 PM EDT
While the story of the South Park death threats may not specifically constitute bias in the media per say, it does highlight an embarrassing pattern that has sent Big Media the way of the dinosaur, and a disturbing pattern that has people kowtowing to aggressive threats from radical Islamists. 

We'll start with the MSM.  Zachary Chesser, or Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee as he is known on the Revolutionmuslim.com Web site that hosted his death threat, recently garnered serious attention from major networks such as CNN and Fox.  But the fact remains that these networks only came upon Chesser after an egregious threat was made, and after several blogs had already covered it.  And they certainly hadn't done their homework as the blogs had, documenting the history of his disturbing radical statements.

The Jawa Report has been able to highlight several instances of odd behavior from Chesser, including a statement regarding the recent plane crash that killed the President of Poland and his wife, along with 96 others.  The statement, as highlighted here, includes a celebration of the tragedy: 

71 Percent of Americans Oppose Comedy Central Censoring South Park
By Noel Sheppard | April 28, 2010 | 3:23 AM EDT
A new poll found almost three quarters of the nation disagreed with Comedy Central's decision to censor last week's two-part episode of the hit cartoon series "South Park."

As NewsBusters reported last Thursday, the network caved to pressure from a radical Muslim group to not make references to the prophet Muhammed. 

According to pollster John Zogby, a large bipartisan swath of Americans believe this was the wrong decision:

Threats To South Park Force Increased Security At Comedy Central
By Noel Sheppard | April 24, 2010 | 11:34 AM EDT
As a result of threats made to the creators of the hit cartoon series "South Park," the New York Police Department has beefed up security at Comedy Central's headquarters.

As NewsBusters reported Monday, a radical Islamic group threatened the lives of Trey Parker and Matt Stone due to a two-part episode featuring Mohammed in a bear's costume.

Newsweek's Declassified blog reported Friday that the NYPD actually got advanced notice of the threat, and is acting accordingly (h/t @allahpundit):

'South Park,' Muhammad, and Double Standards at the New York Times
By Clay Waters | April 23, 2010 | 12:45 PM EDT
A recent episode of Comedy Central's animated comedy show "South Park" caused an Islamic group to send a veiled death threat to show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, accusing them of insulting the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Comedy Central reacted by censoring a later episode that also had scenes involving the cartoon version of the Islamic prophet.

Two New York Times stories on this free speech issue by Arts reporter Dave Itzkoff were buried on the inside pages of the paper's Arts section, under whitewashed headlines alleging that the "South Park" creators were being "warned" by Muslims, not having their lives threatened.

The issue first came up in Thursday's "Arts, Briefly" column under the lame headline "Muslim Group Warns 'South Park.'" (A more accurate headline would have been "Muslim Group Sends Veiled Death Threat to 'South Park.'")

Jon Stewart Notes Blatant Double Standard on 'South Park' Mohammed Censorship
By Lachlan Markay | April 23, 2010 | 12:21 PM EDT

On last night's "Daily Show," Jon Stewart noted the blatant censorship his employer Comedy Central exercised against its popular show "South Park" by banning it from showing, and even uttering the word "Mohammed" in this week's episode after a threat came forward from an Islamic group.

"The censorship was a decision Comedy Central made I think as a way to protect their employees from what they believe was any possible harmful repercussions to them," Stewart stated, adding, comically, that "after forcing many of these same employees to work on [Comedy Central shows] "Mind of Mencia" and "Crod Mandoon" … damage done. But again they sign the checks."

Stewart is one of the few left-leaning media figures to note a glaring double standard: in popular culture, religions of all kind are regularly mocked but Islam mostly gets a free pass. "Comedy Central decided to censor the episode. It's their right," Stewart stated. "We all serve at their pleasure." But his extensive recap of all of the religions the show has made fun of over the years was clearly a critique of Comedy Central's decision.

Comedy Central Caves, Censors 'South Park' from Even Saying 'Muhammed'
By Lachlan Markay | April 22, 2010 | 3:53 PM EDT
The elite gatekeepers of American pop culture huff and puff about freedom of speech. But when political correctness actually threatens that right, Hollywood's stalwart defenders of free expression are nowhere to be found.

Last night, Comedy Central gave into threats of violence against the creators of the animated sitcom "South Park"  and not only censored the image of the Muslim prophet Muhammed -- as it had last week and in one previous episode -- but even censored every verbal mention of the the prophet's name (see the video below the fold).

The decision came days after a radical New York-based Muslim fundamentalist group warned that Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the show's creators, would be killed for supposedly mocking Muhammed.
Pro-Jihadists Threaten South Park Creators – Only Network to Cover it is CNN?
By Rusty Weiss | April 19, 2010 | 11:39 PM EDT
Believe it or not, CNN - the same CNN which has recently dismissed the Fort Hood terrorist as lonely, has featured a member of ‘Jihad U' as a teacher of the ‘nuts and bolts of Islam', and which has run three separate stories interviewing the father of radical jihadist, Anwar al-Awlaki - has actually taken interest in a jihadist threat of physical violence upon the creators of South Park.

It seems that Trey Parker and Matt Stone have raised the ire of a radical, pro-jihad Web site known as RevolutionMuslim.com, for the egregious crime of portraying the Prophet Mohammed disguised in a bear suit.  A posting on the Web site does what most jihadists do - makes a direct threat and calls it a warning. 

The outstanding citizens of RevolutionMuslim.com, an organization based in New York City, had this to say:

"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."

Van Gogh was murdered partly because of another man's ‘religious conviction', and partly because of a controversial film he directed about the abuse of Muslim women.

The posting puts an exclamation point on the threat, by showing a photograph of Van Gogh's corpse with a knife driven into his chest, including the caption, "Have Matt Stone And Trey Parker Forgotten This?"

There are other factors however that make this posting more than just a simple ‘warning' as the author states...