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| Comedy Central Issues Jive South Park Censorship Explanations |
| 2006-04-15 |
| -----Original Message----- First my email, them their response From: ComedyCentral Servers @ ComedyCentral Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 5:47 PM To: Viewer Services @ Comedy Central Subject: South Park - South Park Censorship Name: Frank G E-mail Address: Fsmokey@NoSpam.cox.net Message: your craven censorship shows you only like to insult religions where you may not suffer a backlash. Cowards . You've lost a viewer, and I can't wait to email the sponsors... **************************************************** Dear Viewer, Thank you for your correspondence regarding the "South Park" episodes entitled "Cartoon Wars." We appreciate your concerns about censorship and the destructive influence of outside groups on the media, entertainment industry and particularly Comedy Central. To reiterate, as satirists, we believe that it is our First Amendment right to poke fun at any and all people, groups, organizations and religions and we will continue to defend that right. Our goal is to make people laugh and perhaps, if we're lucky, even make them think in the process. Comedy Central's belief in the First Amendment has not wavered, despite our decision not to air an image of Muhammad. Our decision was made not to mute the voices of Trey and Matt or because we value one religion over any other. This decision was based solely on concern for public safety in light of recent world events. With the power of freedom of speech and expression also comes the obligation to use that power in a responsible way. Much as we wish it weren't the case, times have changed and, as witnessed by the intense and deadly reaction to the publication of the Danish cartoons, decisions cannot be made in a vacuum without considering what impact they may have on innocent individuals around the globe. It was with this in mind we decided not to air the image of Muhammad, a decision similar to that made by virtually every single media outlet across the country earlier this year when they each determined that it was not prudent or in the interest of safety to reproduce the controversial Danish cartoons. Injuries occurred and lives were lost in the riots set off by the original publication of these cartoons. The American media made a decision then, as we did now, not to put the safety and well being of the public at risk, here or abroad. As a viewer of "South Park," you know that over the course of ten seasons and almost 150 episodes the series has addressed all types of sensitive, hot-button issues, religious and political, and has done so with Comedy Central's full support in every instance, including this one. "Cartoon Wars" contained a very important message, one that Trey and Matt felt strongly about, as did we at the network, which is why we gave them carte blanche in every facet but one: we would not broadcast a portrayal of Muhammad. In that regard, did we censor the show? Yes, we did. But if you hold Comedy Central's 15-year track record up against any other network out there, you'll find that we afford our talent the most creative freedom and provide a nurturing atmosphere that challenges them to be bold and daring and places them in a position to constantly break barriers and push the envelope. The result has been some of the most provocative television ever produced. We would like nothing more than to be able to look back at this in a few years and think that perhaps we overreacted. Unfortunately, to have made a different decision and to look back and see that we completely underestimated the damage that resulted was a risk we were not willing to take. Our pledge to you, our loyal viewers, is that Comedy Central will continue to produce and provide the best comedy available and we will continue to push it right to the edge, using and defending the First Amendment in the most responsible way we know how. Sincerely, Comedy Central Viewer Services pure corporate bullshit dhimmitude |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #14 I really don't care what excuse they throw out there. I'm done with them. They did it out of fear and surrendered to the terrorists, just like the argument in the cartoon. Time to find a new station. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-04-15 22:41 |
| #13 HEE HAW!!! That's what I've been trying to think of since my last post. I couldn't get Smother's Brothers and Hootenanny out of my head. It's Hee Haw. That's about how funny Comedy Central is these days. Corporate approved- what some corporate geek dressed in a suit thinks that his boss and a "target audience" will find funny. It's not spontaneous, not edgy, and if its funny, its only because it got the time slot on Saturday night when people are often drunk enough to laugh at anything even remotely snarky. But now it's not even Snarky. It's cleric approved. Man, they are so dead. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-04-15 22:10 |
| #12 Unfortunately they just made it that much worse when they *do* have to draw the line against the Islamists. Then they will be 'upppity Dhimmis' and will be treated much worse then if they (and others) had taken a stand now. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-04-15 21:44 |
| #11 Apparently, time for Team America II |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-04-15 20:59 |
| #10 I give them credit for airing the episode at all. The setup was beautiful in part one they basically predicted the fear of airing it and mocked it mercilously, then set up the obvious comparison of Jesus shitting on Bush, about as offensive as they could think of, with a simple image of Mohammad knowing which would be censored and thus making an even stronger statement. Comedy Central could have just shitcanned the whole thing and let Trey and Matt scream censorship. Instead they showed an episode designed to make them look bad if they censored it. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-04-15 20:53 |
| #9 Haven't got one yet. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-04-15 19:25 |
| #8 same response letter? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-04-15 19:19 |
| #7 The subject line on my note said "Grow a spine and stop rewarding threats of violence" |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-04-15 19:16 |
| #6 Run this letter by the next clueless moonbat who says 'violence doesn't solve anything'. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-04-15 19:12 |
| #5 I thought it was a breathtaking admission. As a viewer of "South Park," you know that over the course of ten seasons and almost 150 episodes the series has addressed all types of sensitive, hot-button issues, religious and political, and has done so with Comedy Central's full support in every instance, In effect, they say for the first time we have encountered an issue we are afraid to deal with. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-04-15 18:51 |
| #4 I meant Scientology, not scientism. Hard to keep them all straight. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-04-15 18:37 |
| #3 And Scientism is not a cult? I thought the CEO of Borders made a pretty persuasive defence of their decision not carrying the mag with the cartoons on the cover. This comes no where near and is sheer dhimmitude. I hope the next time these guys mock Christianity someone torches their studio when no one is in it. Once they decide to play dhimmi they better be ready to be an equal opportunity dhimmi. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-04-15 18:33 |
| #2 They should just call themselves "Corporate Comedy Central" now. Just lost their badge of daring and cool. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-04-15 18:32 |
| #1 Looks like a pretty direct admission that they consider Islam a violent murder cult, rather than a religion. I suppose they deserve some credit for that... |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2006-04-15 18:20 |