The only thing that would get him to stop? If they town would literally get the actual prophet Muhammad to come around and meet him. (Including Kanye West, Steven Spielberg, and Mel Gibson.) Tom Cruise, in particular, got fed up with all the negative attention going his way and formed a plan to file a lawsuit against the town. 200 & 201 (Season 14)Īlways quick to incorporate real-world issues and scandals into its fictional universe, South Park reflected on its own controversies in Season 14 with the connected episodes "200" and "201," which brought back a bunch of celebrities that show had mocked by that point. Presumably because of the actual censoring therein, the episodes are still available to watch on the network's website, though not on HBO Max. When they did air, Trey Parker and Matt Stone actually took shots at the network's imposed content editing by removing a faux Family Guy cutaway gag with Muhammad and Peter Griffin, replacing it with a black screen and title card that explained Comedy Central's refusal to depict Muhammad. In perhaps its first major sign of censorship worries, Comedy Central semi-balked at the episode's contents in the wake of global concerns about the Jyllands-Posten cartoon controversy in 2005 that led to real-world violence in some areas.
While some fans may have hoped the eps would make their way back into the full lineup, that may very well never happen. Rather, that decision was already a reality before the HBO Max deal went into effect, with Comedy Central and parent company ViacomCBS having previously limited each of the episodes' availability in one way or another. To clarify, HBO Max's execs weren't responsible for deciding to excise South Park episodes before it went live on the streaming service.
And I'm sure many are also aware that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have had little issue with taking aim at various religions over the show's 23-season run so far, with Jesus Christ himself being part of the show since the beginning. As many readers are likely aware, followers of the Islamic faith prohibit visual iterations of Muhammad and other prophets, including drawings, cartoons, statues, etc. The five South Park episodes that weren't part of HBO Max's streaming deal all feature depictions of the Islam prophet Muhammad (even if some depictions were already edited upon the initial airing).