America's Disappointing Reaction to South Park Censorship
THE TELEGRAPH: America's failure to rise up against the intimidation of cartoonist Molly Norris and South Park animators is a sad sign, says Alex Spillius.

South Park featured an episode where all the founders of the major world religions including Mohammed appeared as a group of crime fighters called the Super Best Friends. Image: The Telegraph
The trouble with terror is that it can be terrifying. Just ask Molly Norris, a cartoonist from Seattle.

As far as we know, she hasn't been explicitly threatened by Islamic extremists, but evidently she feared she might be.

Her error was to post on her website an illustration with many different household objects with speech bubbles all claiming to be the likeness of Mohammed, including a tea cup, a domino and a box of pasta. It was part of a mock campaign to dedicate May 20 as "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Saturday, May 01, 2010

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America's Disappointing Reaction to South Park Censorship
THE TELEGRAPH: America's failure to rise up against the intimidation of cartoonist Molly Norris and South Park animators is a sad sign, says Alex Spillius.

South Park featured an episode where all the founders of the major world religions including Mohammed appeared as a group of crime fighters called the Super Best Friends. Cartoon: The Telegraph
The trouble with terror is that it can be terrifying. Just ask Molly Norris, a cartoonist from Seattle.

As far as we know, she hasn't been explicitly threatened by Islamic extremists, but evidently she feared she might be.

Her error was to post on her website an illustration with many different household objects with speech bubbles all claiming to be the likeness of Mohammed, including a tea cup, a domino and a box of pasta. It was part of a mock campaign to dedicate May 20 as "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!"

Ms Norris pinged her cartoon to a few bloggers and talked to local radio, saying she [sic] it was "a cartoonist's job to be non-PC."

Quite reasonably, the radio man asked her "are you sure you want to do this?"

Bold as you like, she replied: "Yeah, I want to water down the targets ..."

Ms Norris had launched her pretend promotion in response to the treatment by Comedy Central of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, the satirical animated show.

Its 200th anniversary episode featured a parade of celebrities and religious figures it had parodied over the years. Aware of the offence that depicting Mohammed could cause to Muslims, the show's characters debated how to represent the prophet, eventually deciding to hide him in a bear costume.

That prompted a New York-based website, RevolutionMuslim.com, to warn Parker and Stone that "what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh". >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Saturday, May 01, 2010

Self-censorship and Dhimmitude! Comedy Central Censors South Park Mohammed Episode
Image: The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Comedy Central, the television network, has censored the latest episode of South Park, following threats by a radical Muslim group that its producers could be killed.

The second episode of a two-part storyline contained further references of the Prophet Mohammed, but his body was purposely blocked out while all audio mentions to him were bleeped out.

Comedy Central also censored 35 seconds worth of a conversation towards the end of the show between the characters Stan, Jesus Christ and Father Christmas.

It led to speculation that Parker and Stone had censored themselves as part of a joke or a wider commentary, but they issued a statement in response to Comedy Central's decision to alter the episode.

It said: "In the 14 years we’ve been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn’t stand behind. >>> | Thursday, April 22, 2010

South Park Episode Featuring the Prophet Muhammad Blocked by Network
The episode included a character representing Muhammad, who spoke from inside a giant bear suit. Image: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: An American television network has blocked global internet broadcasts of an episode of South Park featuring the Prophet Muhammad after death threats from a radical Islamic group.

The 201st edition of the satirical animation was aired on Comedy Central last night but only after the channel had introduced a slew of audio and visual obfuscations in addition to the self-censorship applied by the programme’s makers.

A spokesman confirmed that the network had not granted permission to play the episode online and that producers had edited the programme before it was broadcast. >>> Nico Hines, Washington | Thursday, April 22, 2010

South Park Censored After Threat of Fatwa Over Muhammad Episode
South Park, the animation created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is well known for its satirical attacks. Photo: The Guardian
THE GUARDIAN: Extremist group's death warning leads TV network to censor 201st episode, to fans' dismay

They have depicted the Queen blowing her brains out after a failed attempt by the British army to reinvade America, Saddam Hussein as Satan's gay lover, and Jesus as a trigger-happy superhero. Mormons, Scientologists, Catholics, Jews, politicians and film stars have all been skewered on the razor-sharp wit of South Park.

Now the caustic animated satire appears to have reached its limits within the confines of mainstream US television. Fans and pundits alike were taken aback last night when an episode featuring the prophet Muhammad purportedly dressed in a bear costume had bleeps and "Censored" blocks slapped liberally throughout to remove all audio and visual reference to the prophet.

The censorship followed a warning from a New York-based group of extremist Muslim converts that could be construed as a death threat. The group, through its website Revolutionmuslim.com, had reacted to last week's episode of South Park which first depicted Muhammad dressed as a bear by saying its originators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, "will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh".

To underline the point, the website carried a picture of Van Gogh, the Dutch film-maker killed in 2004 after he made a documentary on the abuse of women in Muslim countries, with his throat cut and a knife in his chest. They also listed the New York headquarters of Comedy Central, the cable television channel that broadcasts the show, and South Park's production company, adding: "You can pay them a visit at these addresses."

In the aftermath of the show's censorship, the chatrooms on South Park's website hummed with the indignation of its fans. "Do you seriously think that will appease the extremists from more terrorism?" one wrote.

As controversy raged, Comedy Central confessed that it was responsible for the cuts. "I can't go into the thinking behind it, but I can confirm it was Comedy Central that inserted the bleeps and not South Park," a spokesman for the station said. >>> Ed Pilkington in New York | Thursday, April22, 2010

Clarifying the South Park Response and Calling on Others to Join in the Defense of the Prophet Muhammad – RevolutionMuslim.com >>>

Try also Revolutionmulim.blogspot.com

THE GUARDIAN: South Park Muhammad episode censored: US Muslim group warns creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker they could 'wind up like Van Gogh' for depiction of prophet >>> Alexandra Topping and agencies | Thursday, April 22, 2010

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South Park Creators Warned by Islamic Website >>> Nick Allen in Los Angeles | Wednesday, April 21, 2010

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