“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, men who know a thing or a thousand about controversial depictions of religious figures, with some words in 2006 about the modern nature of censorship:
“People told us [in 2001], ‘You can’t really draw an image of Mohammed,’ ” Parker says. “And we were like, well, we can. We’re not Muslim, so it’s OK.”
In 2006, however, when Stone and Parker wanted to depict Mohammed in an episode, Comedy Central wouldn’t let them. After all, Muslims worldwide had rioted over insulting depictions of Mohammed in a newspaper in Denmark.
It seemed odd to the creators of “South Park,” who had been and were still allowed to depict Jesus in any number of profane ways. In fact, the episode in question, “Cartoon Wars,” shows a cartoon (supposedly created by al Qaeda) in which Jesus defecates on President Bush.
…
During the part of the show where Mohammed was to be depicted — benignly, Stone and Parker say — the show ran a black screen that read: “Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network.”
Other networks took a similar course, refusing to air images of Mohammed — even when reporting on the Denmark cartoon riots — claiming they were refraining because they’re religiously tolerant, the South Park creators say.
“No you’re not,” Stone retorts. “You’re afraid of getting blown up. That’s what you’re afraid of. Comedy Central copped to that, you know: ‘We’re afraid of getting blown up.’ “
Stone added in the interview with ABC that “it really is open season on Jesus. … But Mohammed, we couldn’t just show a simple image.”
(h/t Jake Tapper)
