After Muhammad Censorship, Conservatives Rally Behind South Park

John Hudson 75 Views Apr 22, 2010
After 14 seasons of harrowing satire, Comedy Central's South Park has skewered practically everything that's sacred to conservatives. But in a striking show of support, many right-wingers are praising the cartoon's creators following a censorship scandal involving the Prophet Muhammad. It all started when Trey Parker and Matt Stone submitted an episode to the network that featured Muhammad in the storyline. When Comedy Central executives got a hold of it, they bleeped out every reference to the religious figure.

The network was reportedly pressured by U.S.-based group Revolution Muslim, which said Stone and Parker "will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh." This was a reference to a Dutch filmmaker who was killed in 2004 for making a film about the discrimination of women in Muslim societies. Now a number of conservatives are praising Parker and Stone for defying Hollywood conventions.
  • It's Time to Stand Up for Parker and Stone, writes Woody Hochswender at the conservative site Big Hollywood: "The Emmy-winning 'South Park' is a take-no-prisoners sort of show whose main characters Stan and Kyle (not to mention the inimitable, somewhat anti-Semitic Cartman) bravely tread where no newspaper commentator, Op-Ed columnist, cable news bloviator, or talk radio loudmouth will ever dare to go. They go, literally, where the sun don’t shine. Stone and Parker are — like Theo Van Gogh — free-speech fundamentalists. Are we going to allow courageous artists to go it alone? We can’t let the bullies win."
  • I'm With South Park, writes Jillian Bandes at Townhall: "Muslims consider any depictions of Muhammad to be blasphemous, so a bear-shaped, sexual depiction of him is clearly a little... edgy. But that doesn't excuse the extremist U.S.-based Muslim group 'Revolution Muslim' from warning the creators of South Park the creators will die."
  • 'Our Best Defense Against Sharia,' praises Diana West at Townhall: "The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, get it. They get the free-speech significance of the Danish Muhammad cartoons epitomized by Kurt Westergaard's bomb-head Muhammad." Other conservative sites expressing support include Classical Values and Polipundit.
  • Hats Off to the Creators, cheers right-leaning moderate Ann Althouse: "I have no end of respect for Stone and Parker. What brilliant artists! What political heroes!"

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