South Park has courted controversy since its inception. The long-running animated sequence started its life as a sequence of shorts created by way of development paper and handed round by way of VHS copies, the second of which featured the enduring battle between Jesus and Santa Claus over who had the rights to Christmas. When it was lastly ordered to sequence, they wasted no time following an identical path, such because the very first episode, “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe,” which ultimately led to “Mecha-Streisand” and different wildly out of pocket moments in the primary season. Across 28 seasons, they’ve by no means as soon as pulled their punches or slowed down.
Today, although, marks the anniversary of a definite place in the historical past of South Park‘s many controversies, as it marks the first time that the series was ever censored upon its initial premiere, with an episode that remains banned to this day. On April 21, 2010, sixteen years ago today, South Park released the episode “201,” which not only marked the 201st episode of the series total but picked up on several major plot threads from throughout the series. Among those threads was the use of the Prophet Muhammad, which stirred a hornet’s nest, with dying threats made on the creators and ensuing in the dad or mum firm actively partaking in censorship.
South Park Episode “201” Was Controversial Before It Even Aired
“201” picks up from the cliffhanger of “200,” the episode that originally spurred the controversy round South Park. In that episode, a bunch of celebrities threatens a lawsuit in opposition to the city however provides an answer to settle: convey them the Prophet Muhammad. The city is of course cautious of this, as depicting Muhammad is forbidden in the Muslim faith and was believed to be the supply of violent retaliation. All throughout “200,” Muhammad isn’t really seen, solely heard from behind a closed door or inside a large costume, however forward of its premiere, it was believed that “201” would go all the way in which and reveal Muhammad fully.
This was, in fact, a fairly foolish controversy on the time, as a result of South Park had already depicted Muhammad in a previous episode, all the way in which again in the Season Five episode, “Super Best Friends,” the place his look spurred no controversy. Despite this, Revolution Muslim (a defunct radical group out of New York) wrote a vaguely threatening put up about it, saying that what creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone “are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show” (Theo Van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker murdered after directing a brief essential of the therapy of ladies in Islam). That, mixed with the bigger perception by media firms to not depict Muhammad, instantly created a firestorm, splitting the edges between “South Park shouldn’t do that” and “South Park should have the freedom to do that.”
As a consequence, numerous eyes had been on “201” when it arrived, with the episode incomes larger viewership than episode 200. When the episode aired, although, it arrived with a number of moments of censorship, with each point out of “Muhammad” bleeped out, the character himself lined by a large black “Censored” bar, and the ultimate monologue to wrap up the storyline additionally censored (with greater than thirty seconds of the episode totally censored, together with a number of characters).
Initially, some believed that the censored components of the sequence had been a part of the joke, just for the South Park group to verify the subsequent day that every one of those selections had been made after they delivered the episode to Paramount/Viacom. In an announcement on their South Park Studios web site, the group confirmed that Comedy Central “added the bleeps” to the episode, together with Kyle’s large line that itself was about succumbing to the concern of the specter of violence.
“I learned something today. Throughout this whole ordeal, we’ve all wanted to show things that we weren’t allowed to show, but it wasn’t because of some magic goo. It was because of the magical power of threatening people with violence. That’s obviously the only true power. If there’s anything we’ve all learned, it’s that terrorizing people works.”
South Park’s “201” Remains Banned
After its premiere on April 21, 2010, “201” was faraway from the rotation of syndicated episodes of South Park and by no means re-aired in the United States, one thing it nonetheless hasn’t achieved. Not solely did it not return to air ever once more, however the episode was pulled from South Park Studios, the place followers may stream episodes of the present uncensored. As chances are you’ll count on, the episode wasn’t obtainable on the platform in any respect, even with the censored components. “201” was included on the DVD launch of the seasons, although they included the censored components. The uncensored model of “201” ultimately leaked on-line and may simply be discovered on the web to today. Even now, although, “201” stays unavailable for streaming; the episode can also’t even be bought on-line by means of digital platforms.
Across its 28 seasons with over 334 episodes whole, plus a characteristic movie and 7 streaming specials, South Park solely has 5 episodes which might be banned from airing on TV and even streaming. This was true when the sequence was on HBO Max and since then, when it migrated again to Paramount+, and the irony is that every one 5 episodes have one thing in frequent. In addition to “201,” the banned episodes of South Park embrace “200,” plus the beforehand talked about “Super Best Friends” and the two-part “Cartoon Wars Part I” and “Cartoon Wars Part II.” As you possibly can guess, all 5 episodes depict or characteristic Muhammad.
It’s telling that throughout its lots of of episodes, and the numerous controversies it has courted and the assorted organizations and international locations it has angered, there’s nonetheless just one line that South Park has crossed, in line with its dad or mum firm. For followers that know the place to look, although, the supplies are all there, which is proof that censorship of this caliber is a toothless endeavor, particularly when a part of the censorship goes in opposition to the message of the story too.
