SUCK ON MY CHOCOLATE SCIENTOLOGIST BALLS
Chef shafts the kids.
Normally, I applaud any person who takes a stand against intolerance.
But Isaac Hayes' recent decision to quit voicing Chef on South Park because of the show's religious bigotry? Weaksauce and ridonculous.
Isaac Hayes has been a cast member of South Park since its first episode on Comedy Central in 1997. For almost ten years now, Parker, Stone, and Hayes have consistently crucified Christians (especially Mormons and Catholics), Jews, Hindus, Shintoists, Muslims, and nearly every race and ethnicity on the planet, without mercy.
The very genesis of South Park was the religion-skewering short film "The Spirit of Christmas," in which Kyle is mocked for being Jewish and Santa is the victim of retribution by Jesus Christ, who later admits he's been a bastard.
In 1999, Hayes himself contributed the song "What The Hell Child Is This?" on the South Park Christmas album, in which he (hilariously) claims that the baby Jesus, left at his doorstep, can't be his since the baby is white, and then proceeds to twist traditional Christmas carols into nonstop sexual innuendoes. That album also includes "The Most Offensive Song Ever," sung from the perspective of the Angel Gabriel and featuring the chorus "you can suck all the &!@% you want and still be a virgin, Mary!"
Yet, it was only this last week in which Hayes quit to protest the show's intolerance, saying, "Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored. ... As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."
Why the sudden stand? Although Hayes refuses to admit it, he's clearly upset -- and only upset -- about the show's recent roast of the Church of Scientology, of which Hayes is a devout follower.
(This season featured a ruthless episode in which Scientologist leaders proclaimed Stan the reincarnation of prophet L. Ron Hubbard while R. Kelly sang about how Tom Cruise was trapped in the closet and refused to come out. Comedy Central has since pulled that episode; rumour has it that Tom Cruise is responsible.)
Needless to say, if Hayes fashions himself a principled activist who opposes the skewering of religious beliefs, he shouldn't have ever signed on to the show. It's hardly in the spirit of the civil rights movement to speak up only when your group gets mocked.
I'd give him props, however, if he returned all the hundreds of thousands of dollars he's made from ten seasons on Comedy Central (along with DVD sales, syndication rights, album sales, etc.)
(I realize this news is a few days old, but, hey, I've got two weeks of stuff to catch up on!)
<< Home