Isaac Hayes' decision to leave South Park for making fun of Scientology is making waves.
His departure has been universally panned as being "hypocritical." According to South Park co-creator Matt Stone, Hayes has "cashed plenty of checks - with our show making fun of Christians."
Liz Kelly at The Post writes, "Resigning shortly after an episode poking fun at Scientology can't help but be viewed as knee jerk and intolerant."
And blogger Dan Flynn comments, "Hayes should have known that his beliefs were due for the South Park treatment."
According to FOXnews.com, the outspoken Scientologist responded by saying: "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins..."
Fair enough. But does this mean others should complain, too? Should Tipper Gore get involved in this? Perhaps we can label these episodes with some sort of "intolerance" warning?
And on the political front (this is a political blog, right?) there is still no word as to how Gov. Romney feels about the South Park Mormon episode. I'm guessing he does not own the DVD.
In the end, the show will go on with, or without, Chef. No doubt, they will have fun making fun of this incident - and in fact - the publicity could be good for the show. As for me, so long as they don't mess with Cartman's voice, I'm cool with it.
BTW, the Scientology episode will air tonight on Comedy Central. Check it out.
