Why 5 South Park Episodes Were Censored on HBO Max

Why 5 South Park Episodes Were Censored on HBO Max

Is there really such a thing as an equal-opportunity offender? Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be looking at why these five “South Park” episodes were censored by HBO.

For this essay, we’re looking at the reasons behind HBO refusing to platform a certain handful of episodes of this infamous cartoon.

“South Park” has a long and decorated history for courting controversy. In its aim to offend anybody and everybody capable of being offended, regardless of who they are and where they fall on the political spectrum, it’s been a resounding success. Most people out there probably have their favorite episodes of “South Park”, and they’ve also got some episodes that hit a little too close to home with them personally, which is part of what’s made the satirical cartoon so enduring. But despite it being protected under the first amendment no matter how dark and touchy its subject matter grows, some episodes have proven time and time again that they shouldn’t be on the air – at least, not without some modification.

The five episodes that won’t be coming to HBO Max with the rest of “South Park” are “Super Best Friends”, “Cartoon Wars Part I”, “Cartoon Wars Part II”, “200” and “201”. Any “South Park” fan will recall that not only are these episodes controversial today, but some of them received heavy censorship at the time when they aired on Comedy Central. That’s because all of these episodes either feature or center on Islam’s most important prophet, Muhammad. In most of these episodes, he’s shown as a member of the Super Best Friends – a Justice League parody.

It’s a complex theological issue, but in short, most Muslims in the world abide by Muhammad’s own wish that his image shouldn’t be shown or reproduced. This isn’t something unique to Islam; many religions also forbid idolatry and idol worship as it is viewed as blasphemy, including Judaism and some Christian denominations. By showing the image of Muhammad in “Super Best Friends”, Parker and Stone earned the ire and attention of many devout Muslims, who protested the episodes. The situation got so intense that Parker and Stone provided a tongue-in-cheek censorship of Muhammad in subsequent episodes, where, famously, a large black “CENSORED” bar was shown over him. This was even more ironic because “Cartoon Wars” was all about whether an episode of “Family Guy” featuring Muhammad should be aired on television.

The reason Parker and Stone did this was that they were actually threatened with a fatwa. A fatwa is simply a non-legally-binding piece of advice or guidance to do with Sharia law, but in the modern age, some fatwas have been incredibly violent – and have had violent consequences. That’s one reason why Parker and Stone actually seemed to take this threat, above any other protest against “South Park”, more seriously. Perhaps the most famous modern fatwa was issued against author Salman Rushdie in the 1980s by the leader of Iran, in response to Rushdie’s contentious novel “The Satanic Verses” – which questions and critiques some aspects of Islam. The fatwa issued against Rushdie called for his execution, and he was forced into hiding for almost a decade. Rushdie is still alive, but the same can’t be said for his Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi, who was tragically murdered in 1991 for his work translating the novel. And the Norwegian translator, too, William Nygaard, was shot in 1993 – though he thankfully survived. Thirteen years later, and Parker and Stone were caught up in the same controversy for “South Park’s” decision to feature the image of Muhammad for the second time – though, no such controversy seemed to arise in 2001 when the Super Best Friends debuted.

Muhammad wasn’t the only important religious figure lampooned by the Super Best Friends – in fact, most figures were. Jesus has long been a recurring character in “South Park,” appearing in both of the earliest animated shorts Parker and Stone ever made, “Jesus vs. Frosty” and “Jesus vs. Santa”. Also mocked were Buddha, Moses, Joseph Smith, Krishna, and Lao Tse. The only non-religious figure to appear is “Seaman,” who’s a plain old Aquaman knock-off. And they’re all portrayed in various states of moral decay with a variety of addictions and problems. Interestingly, though, in the seventh season episode “I’m a Little Bit Country”, Muhammad wasn’t among the other members of the Super Best Friends who showed up in a cameo– though, nor was Moses. And that was before the controversy around “200” and “201” in 2010 when the fatwa was threatened. And in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, Parker was able to get away with yet again showing the image of Muhammad in 2020’s “Pandemic Special,” as Stan’s got the prophet on his lunchbox for a split second.

Parker and Stone have very directly attacked numerous religions, chief among them Scientology and Mormonism. Infamously in 2011, they put on the musical “The Book of Mormon” to directly lambast the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which went on to become critically acclaimed. Though the reception to the musical from Mormons was reserved and it didn’t seem like anybody was too upset. There was also an entire episode in 2003, “All About Mormons”, that aimed to teach people, well, all about Mormons. But it did this by portraying Joseph Smith – another of the Super Best Friends – as an outright con artist. Despite Stan pointing this out to Gary, a boy who’s mormon and just moved to South Park, the latter doesn’t seem to mind because he still sees value in the altruistic lessons Smith had to teach.

“South Park’s” handling of Scientology, however, is an entirely different story. In 2005, the episode “Trapped in the Closet” aired, this time with Scientology in its sights, specifically the likes of Tom Cruise. Cruise himself reportedly condemned the episode and allegedly threatened Viacom over it, but most famously, it led to Isaac Hayes – the voice of Chef – quitting the show. Scientologists didn’t take their turn under Parker’s spotlight as generously as the Mormons did, as Scientology is notorious for its long list of so-called “enemies of Scientology” who publicly criticize the religion. It’s worth remembering that Scientology is so controversial that officials from some countries, like Germany, have attempted to outright ban it. Comedy Central has been hesitant to rebroadcast the episode, even completely pulling it at one point. Still, neither the episode about Joseph Smith nor the episode about Scientology has been pulled from HBO.

In the end, every controversy that puts “South Park” back in the news only serves to give it more attention and make it even more popular, as well as proving why we need satire that’s not afraid to go the distance. But blaspheming against Islam, with Muslims still being a marginalized group in the U.S. where the show is made, is something even Parker and Stone have steered clear off since – generally speaking, at least. And those were the reasons why 5 “South Park” episodes have been banned from HBO Max.