Matt Stone and Trey Parker are no strangers to controversy. “South Park” pokes fun at Jews, Christians, Catholics, Scientologists and, in no small portion, Muslims.
But how far is the show willing to go? And how far are the made-fun-ofs willing to go to protest?
How about murder?
On a show that puts God in Gap, makes Satan out to be a little bitch, featured a character that was literally a piece of poop, and once locked Jesus and Santa Claus in mortal combat, nothing should surprise or shock viewers anymore. It’s the formula that’s made “South Park” the top-rated show in the history of Comedy Central.
The recent depiction of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed in a bear suit has enraged activists. In the recent episode, the show’s creators poked fun at the usual inability to depict Mohammed in any form by portraying Mohammed with a black “censored” bar covering him and by putting him in a bear suit.
One Muslim group has told Stone and Parker that they’ll probably end up like Theo van Gogh.
Van Gogh, a direct descendant of Vincent van Gogh, was a filmmaker and journalist who was murdered in 2004 by an Islamic extremist after he made a film called “Submission” that was critical of the way Muslim women are treated.
The “South Park” issue has been a divisive freedom of speech case study, but even more divisive is the fact that the Muslim group’s statements about the show’s creator’s possible deaths is also protected as free speech, as the group insists it is not inciting “violence,” but “protest.”
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