Oh no they killed Chef.... YOU BASTARDS!!!

[robfharris]

Veteran soul singer Isaac Hayes, voice of the libidinous character "Chef" on the satiric cable TV cartoon "South Park," said on Monday he was quitting the show, citing its "inappropriate ridicule" of religion.

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs ... begins," Hayes said in a statement.

Hayes, 63, a devoted follower of the Church of Scientology, did not mention a "South Park" episode that aired last fall poking fun at Scientology and some of its celebrity adherents, including actor Tom Cruise.

Rather, Hayes said the show's parody of religion is part of what he saw as a "growing insensitivity toward personal spiritual beliefs" in the media generally, including the recent controversy over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

The singer, who became the first black composer to win an Oscar for best song with his theme to the film "Shaft," said he formally asked to be released from his contract with "South Park," on the Comedy Central cable channel.

A spokesman for the Viacom Inc.-owned network said producers of the show and its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, had agreed not to "enforce" Hayes' contract.

"Obviously, Matt and Trey are disappointed that he's not going to be part of the show, but they're not going to make him do something he doesn't want to do," the spokesman, Tony Fox, told Reuters.

However, he said Stone and Parker "feel that it's a bit disingenuous (for Hayes) to cite religious intolerance as a reason for him pulling out of the show" because the series has lampooned religion since its start, taking shots at Catholics, Jews, Muslims and Mormons, among others.

The series grew out of two short films by Parker and Stone, "Jesus vs. Frosty" and "The Spirit of Christmas," the latter featuring a martial-arts duel between Jesus and Santa Claus over the true meaning of Christmas.

"Their premise is as long as you can make fun of everybody, then everybody is a potential target," Fox said. "The minute you start pulling punches, then the show's reason for being sort of gets compromised."

The crudely animated cartoon, heading into its 10th season next week as one of Comedy Central's biggest hits, centers on the antics of four foul-mouthed fourth graders in the town of South Park, Colorado.

Hayes joined the show in 1997, supplying the baritone voice of Jerome "Chef" McElroy, the rotund school cafeteria cook whom the boys often seek out for advice.

In an episode last fall, one of the gang, Stan, scores so high on a Scientology test that church followers think he is the next L. Ron Hubbard, the late science-fiction writer who founded the religion. Hayes did not take part in that episode.

In an interview with Reuters late last year, Hayes talked about a foundation he formed to bring Scientology-based study techniques to disadvantaged inner-city schools, in partnership with fellow devotee Lisa Marie Presley.

"But it's not religious," he said then. "It's just something that people need."

[bingolong]

robfharris,
I feel him because that is his personal belief so can't say he shouldn't quit.....but since I don't understand the religion completely I really need to research Scientology before I diss it (like I just almost did) ;p

[JTF]

bingolong,

I can't wait to see how they get rid of Chef... I havn't watched South Park in a couple years, but this got my interest back in it.

Thanks L. Ron Hubbard!

I hope they get a guy who can impersonate Chef perfectly and absolutely DESTROY Chef and Scientology. They should never mention it, but employ all the weird beliefs they have. Chef should tell the children how the proper way to pray is on your knees with a member down your throat andend up leaving on a flying saucer to go meet some people behind a comet!

A former coworker of mine is a former Scientologist. He told the absolute BEST story... He went to L.A. to be an actor. An actor friend told him that his church was a great place to meet women. They went there and he immediatly met a woman. He spent the night with her. The next day he saw her at the cherch, but she had found more fresh meat... It didn't matter, because there was pleanty more ass where that came from! Unfortunatly, she gave him the clap.

[walrusjk]

If you ask me South Park is the funniest show on TV by a mile. Last year I would have said it was Curb your enthusiasm and South Park but "Curb" lost a little last season. Those 2 guys rip everyone. I thinks it's so funny when someone gets upset. I bet they high five each other whenever it happens...

[robfharris]

The thing that makes South Park attacking people, religion, or national issues; is that they always have a point a very good message behind it.
In the "Scientology" episode what a lot of people look over is the sequence when they describe the beliefs of scientology and at the bottom of the screen is "THIS IS ACTUALLY WHAT THEY BELIEVE".
The "J-Lo" episode addressed how the record industry can make a star out of anyone even a 10 year old boys left hand.
The episode when Jesus fought Santa Clause was about the true meaning of Christmas.
Even with the harsh language, the attacks, there is always a message behind in the episodes.

Just funny how Isaac Hayes could do voice work on all the episodes before this one. Now, he has a problem with the comments on religion. But I can't believe it's about religion; saying "Tom Cruise come out the closet" throughout the episode and the obvious questioning of Cruise's sexuality is what this is really all about. They just hope other spiritual based organizations join them, so the true anger they have is never really addressed.

[smjmcomic]

I have done research on Scientology I was writting a bit on it from what I read and took in its total bunk.

It was started by a dude who wrote SCI-FI books its nothing more that a mind fuck cult.

And once Celebrity's starting joining scientology became nothing more than a trend. If you join a religion
just cuz your favorite actor/singing is in it you are a sad weak minded person and thats just what Scientology feeds on sad people with low self esteem. That is just wrong!

[Jennifer]

astonamous,
He's full of shit!

[bingolong]

astonamous,
Will be on the lookout for that in Rolling Stone