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http://www.variety.com/VR1117939918.html

The dust-up gained steam last week when Isaac Hayes, a practicing Scientologist who has long been the voice of the character Chef, quit after objecting to a "South Park" episode called "Trapped in the Closet," which lampooned both the religion and Tom CruiseTom Cruise.

The skirmish continued this week, when Comedy CentralComedy Central abruptly pulled a repeat of that episode that was scheduled to air Wednesday evening. Showing instead was another memorable segseg which featured Hayes's character, called "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls."

Blog reports pegged the mysterious episode switch to objections raised by Cruise, who, the reports stated, threatened to not promote "Mission: Impossible 3," the summer tentpole for ViacomViacom-owned Paramount.

"Mission Impossible III" - Paramount should be paying people to download that shit

Wow, the info about scientology in that episode is really all accurate. 0.0

Dark Lord Xenu.

Thanks for the showing, I was wondering what all the controversy was about. Closet humor was decent. And yea, I’m sure that’s an accurate depiction of how a sucker is conned into scientology. dumb asses. I’ts like all these drug commercials at night keep bringing up afflictions till they come up with one you think you might have. And, then you go run and buy their product. "buy my product"

I don’t find south park all that funny. I’d much rather watch family guy, simpsons, futurama or king of the hill.

Thanks for the vid DP.

I don't watch South Park that much, but this episode ranks right up there with the Mormon one. dum dum dum dum dummm!

I caught the part where R. Kelly got in the closet with Cruisey and Barbarino when that first aired but never watched the whole episode until now. Funny. I was hoping he'd pee on them and video tape it (selling copies all over Chicago) but that didn't happen.

I read about the 'Secret Doctrine' of Scientology years ago and thought it was total bullshit back then. Good to see I'm not alone in my estimation.

Mission Impossible III looks like a spectacularly expensive piece of crap. I don't really hold Cruise being delusional against him, I just never liked his movies. "The Outsiders" and "Taps" excluded (his roles nominal in both) he isn't anywhere else in my top 50 movies of all time.

And as always, Parker and Stone give the best replies ever:

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

The duo signed the statement "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."


Legends. The show isnt what it once was, but those two are still hilarious.

'South Park' Chef Back After Scientology Skirmish

By Steve Gorman, Reuters


LOS ANGELES (March 21) - Soul singer Isaac Hayes may have quit his job as the voice of Chef on "South Park" after a disagreement over religion, but his character will live on when the satiric cable TV cartoon returns to Comedy Central this week, the network said Monday.

Hayes and his "South Park" alter ego are at the center of an ongoing flap over an episode last November that poked fun at the Church of Scientology and its celebrity adherents, including actor Tom Cruise.

The tenth season of "South Park" will launch Wednesday with a new episode titled "The Return of Chef!", marking the "triumphant homecoming" of lusty school cafeteria cook James "Chef" McElroy to the show, the network said in a statement.

Hayes, 63, himself a follower of Scientology, surprised producers a week ago by announcing he was leaving the series because he objected to its "inappropriate ridicule" of religion, though he made no reference to the show's spoof of Scientology last fall.

Two days later, Comedy Central abruptly pulled a scheduled repeat of that episode, titled "Trapped in the Closet." Sources close to the show said the rerun was canceled after Cruise threatened to boycott promotion of his upcoming film, "Mission: Impossible III," for sister studio Paramount Pictures.

Representatives for Cruise and the studio denied this. But "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone fed the furor by issuing a statement suggesting the Church of Scientology was behind the decision to scrap the rerun.

The network has also noted that various religions including Christianity, Judaism and Islam have been targets of the show's satire since its inception.

The network statement announcing Chef's return for the "South Park" season premiere this Wednesday was a clear sign that Parker and Stone planned to use the Hayes imbroglio as further grist for their comedy.

"Knowing these guys as I do, I can't imagine that they're not going to do just that," Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox told Reuters. He added that the producers routinely "turn around" new episodes in just six days, leaving them ample time to incorporate last week's dust-up into their season debut.

Fox said he assumed someone besides Hayes would supply Chef's voice. Details of the new episode were vague.

But a network synopsis said the fictional town of South Park, Colorado, is "jolted out of a case of the doldrums when Chef suddenly reappears," leading to new antics by the group of foul-mouthed fourth graders who are the show's stars.

"While Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman are thrilled to have their old friend back, they notice that something about Chef seems different. When Chef's strange behavior starts getting him in trouble, the boys pull out all the stops to save him," the network said.

"South Park," launched in 1997, remains the highest-rated series on Comedy Central, which like Paramount, is owned by Viacom Inc..