Comedy Central were supposed to be showing the infamous South Park Scientology episode last week but pulled it at the last minute. As I wrote before, the episode has not shown in the UK and it is rumored Tom Cruise used his influence to keep it off the air both there and apparently now in the US too. His representatives have denied this.
As well as pulling the Scientology episode, Comedy Central also pulled the “bleeding statue” episode because that was offensive to Catholics. I guess we shouldn’t expect to see any more episodes involving Muhammad!
Anyway, via The Uncredible Hallq I found a site where you can view the Scientology episode online. It was pretty good, although in my opinion it concentrated too much on the Tom Cruise gay rumors, and not enough on Scientology. Worth seeing though, if you haven’t already.
Also I learn of Andrew Sullivan’s campaign to protest the censorship the South Park cartoons. For example you can Email the parent company Viacom and make your feelings known. Also you can use this page to register a protest.
Sullivan is taking it a step further:
Finally, make sure you don't go see Paramount's "Mission Impossible: 3," Cruise's upcoming movie. I know you weren't going to see it anyway. But now any money you spend on this movie is a blow against freedom of speech. Boycott it. Tell your friends to boycott it.
Pretty funny – I wasn’t going to see it anyway. Not sure if I would boycott a movie as a protest, but it’s an option if you want to. I do encourage everyone write protest emails to them though. The TV companies should be encouraged not to self-censor, especially when it comes to offending the religious, and protest emails can’t hurt.
MI1 was okay, though that's probably more nostalgia than genuine memory on my part.
MI2 was too James Bond-y. I wanted to see all the acrobatic insanity Ethan Hunt skipped out on. Important tip for cinematographers: Don't show a slo-mo scene that features a stray bullet being fired at the end, unless you intend to kill a character we all hold dear with said bullet.
MI3 is probably going to be a suckfest anyway, but I'll boycott it directly, as well as indirectly where possible.
Posted by: BronzeDog | March 20, 2006 at 05:39 PM
Out of curiosity, are Matt Stone and Trey Parker atheists, or do they hew to some religious belief or the other? I always assumed they were atheist or at least agnostic, judging by how much they mocked prety much every religion under the sun :O
Posted by: gay homosexual | March 23, 2006 at 12:38 PM
Well, they more than made up for it with the Super Adventure Club episode. I haven't seen them go for the jugular like that for a long time.
And the best part is that they didn't actually say 'Scientology' once, so CC has no reason whatsoever to pull the episode.
Posted by: darukaru | March 23, 2006 at 03:30 PM
I have never seen any of the crappy MI movies but from now on i am boycotting any tom cruise movie. I was thinking of buying War of the Worlds but on account of tom cruise being a bag of douche i am deffinately not. Scientology is a crazy cult that actually created a program to recruit celebrities to promote it. they only let in people rich enough to afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to support their programs and anyone who speaks out against the "religion" is automatically targeted. also scientology thinks homosexuallity is a big no-no, why else do you think tom cruise finds it necessary to grope katie holmes in public and impregnate her immediately. read this great article on scientology that rolling stone put out. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9363363/inside_scientology
Posted by: BroadwayBaby84 | April 05, 2006 at 12:11 PM