# South Park Death Threats **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983 "2010-04-22T14:40:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/61 "2010-04-23T05:31:33Z")
> [@ToeJam](#): > > It’s one thing for a person to give a “warning” (or a vague threat by reference another person’s death- tomato, to-mah-to.) about how these two guys shouldn’t offend the radical Muslims in a post… > But it is also another thing to in the VERY SAME POST also give the location of where the people who may be pissing off the radical Muslims live and the location of where the station who allowed such a show to air’s location. Not that he’s advocating violence or anything. > > But he’s certainly helping to make it easier for the Radicals out there who don’t watch South park but certainly would read that post. I can sadly understand why a company would want to back down and censor itself after things like that are done. They are hiding behind the first amendment. The government is allowed to prohibit speech inciting imminent lawless action. It has to be imminent action. Telling someone he might end up dead doesn’t fall under this category. Courts have dealt with this exact same issue before with other extremist groups and have held that the language was protected by the first amendment. If the website could get away with it they would probably call for direct violence. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/62 "2010-04-23T05:42:14Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > They are hiding behind the first amendment. The government is allowed to prohibit speech inciting imminent lawless action. It has to be imminent action. Telling someone he might end up dead doesn’t fall under this category. I agree, I just thing adding the locations though to the post just drives the message home further and certainly adds way more pressure for a company or even MS&TP to certainly censor the episodes or at least give it a 2nd thought. ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/63 "2010-04-23T06:27:51Z")
Quote: \*\*“This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them,” \*\*it added. Is this like when I punch my sister while yelling “I’m not punching you! I’m not punching you!”? Priceless. And: ``` Quote: **"We're the religion of peace and we'll kill anyone who disagrees."** ``` Beyond compare. Except with … …\*\* “I do not like this word bomb. It is not a bomb; it is a device which is exploding.” \*\* [Jacques LeBlanc](http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/quotes/favourite/jacques_le_blanc/i_do_not_like_this_word_26572) French ambassador to New Zealand/Aotearoa ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/64 "2010-04-23T07:16:51Z")
This can’t possibly be the first time Matt and Trey have gotten death threats… ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/65 "2010-04-23T08:32:33Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > Note that Walker didn’t capitalize “freedom of speech,” suggesting it was his/her own take on what they deem an acceptable standard. Plus sadly I live in the UK where freedom of speech is not protected by the constitution and is being steadily eroded by the reactionary forces of PC and government reaction to radical islam. ---
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/66 "2010-04-23T08:55:21Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > That’s what I thought… it seems so much smarter and funnier with those! Imagine if Muhammad had simply appeared in all those scenes–standing absolutely mute, doing nothing, while all the fuss was made over him–!! > > 😕😕😕 Muhammad appears consistently in the closed captioning for the episode. It has to have been a last-minute change by Comedy Central. ---
**Author:** ![Martiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/67 "2010-04-23T10:21:10Z")
> [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](#): > > Plus sadly I live in the UK where freedom of speech is not protected by the constitution and is being steadily eroded by the reactionary forces of PC and government reaction to radical islam. Rubbish. I saw the episode earlier in the week on CC in the UK and, apart from one ‘censored’ bar (which I wondered too whether that was part of the joke) it was entirely uncut. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/68 "2010-04-23T10:27:57Z")
> [@Martiju](#): > > Rubbish. I saw the episode earlier in the week on CC in the UK and, apart from one ‘censored’ bar (which I wondered too whether that was part of the joke) it was entirely uncut. I wasn’t refering to the cartoon, I was refering to the steady erosion of our freedom of speech by this government. That’s a fact, look it up. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/69 "2010-04-23T13:05:56Z")
I think those intolerant fuckers fucked me over. The SO wanted to watch something else at the time episode 201 would orignally air. So, I look at the Dish guide…it replays later…no problem. I then later that night go to watch it rerun. The DVR says its episode 201, but it aint. And the DVR says the one after THAT is supposed to be episode 201. It isnt either. I guess comedy central pussed out and caved as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/70 "2010-04-23T14:03:48Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > On NPR they said Stone and Parker changed the second ep at the last minute because of the death threats, adding the bleeped dialogue, and bleeped mentions of Mohammed, and Mohammed hidden behind a “CENSORED” bar – but is that true? The second ep seemed to be **written** around those gimmicks! That doesn’t necessarily prove that the episode was written in “censored” form – Stone and Parker might have anticipated that CC would chicken out and made sure the episode would work either way. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/71 "2010-04-23T16:35:15Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Maybe they should do another episode of Super Best Friends and kick Moe to the curb. Do it like Survivor and vote him off the island. If your followers can’t play nice then you need to go. > > —|||| > –|||||| > ||||||||| > —~–|–~ > —\_ \_ \_ > —0000 > ----000 > ----000 I love this idea. It’ll get the crazies to shut up and we can have more episodes of the Super Best Friends. I’d love it if the SBF said something like, “You know Moe if you can’t play nice and you can’t keep your followers from issueing death threats then we know longer want to be your friend.” Maybe they could replace Moe with L. Ron Hubbard and then they could have all the SBF making fun of LRH instead of [del]Semen[/del] Seaman. Then [del]Semen[/del] Seaman can say something about how it’s nice not to be the butt of the jokes anymore and he can totally just go off making fun of LRH. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/72 "2010-04-23T16:55:28Z")
> [@Tahssa](#): > > I love this idea. It’ll get the crazies to shut up and we can have more episodes of the Super Best Friends. I’d love it if the SBF said something like, “You know Moe if you can’t play nice and you can’t keep your followers from issueing death threats then we know longer want to be your friend.” > > Maybe they could replace Moe with L. Ron Hubbard and then they could have all the SBF making fun of LRH instead of [del]Semen[/del] Seaman. Then [del]Semen[/del] Seaman can say something about how it’s nice not to be the butt of the jokes anymore and he can totally just go off making fun of LRH. Moe can counter that it’s not his fault. He has always insisted his followers adhere to the principles of peace under the severest of penalties but somehow they’ve blown that all out of proportion. All the while his character is invisible which leads to the other super friends complaining about how annoying THAT is. Talking to him is like talking to a wall. Seems like lots of opportunities to turn this into a teaching moment. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/73 "2010-04-24T00:47:14Z")
Matt and Trey gave an [official statement](http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-15166-Comedy-Examiner~y2010m4d22-South-Park-creators-issue-a-statement-about-Comedy-Centrals-censorship-of-episode-201) yesterday: > [@South Park Studios via the Examiner](#): > > In the 14 years we’ve been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn’t stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn’t some meta-joke on our part. Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle’s customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn’t mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too. We’ll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we’ll see what happens to it. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/74 "2010-04-24T01:45:26Z")
Dang, It looks like I won’t be seeing 201 for awhile. I don’t get cable anymore and was hoping to watch it at southparkstudios, but no luck. Fuck those thugs. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/75 "2010-04-24T02:26:42Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Matt and Trey gave an [official statement](http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-15166-Comedy-Examiner~y2010m4d22-South-Park-creators-issue-a-statement-about-Comedy-Centrals-censorship-of-episode-201) yesterday: See also [Post #48](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12373160&postcount=48). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/76 "2010-04-24T04:18:04Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Matt and Trey gave an [official statement](http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-15166-Comedy-Examiner~y2010m4d22-South-Park-creators-issue-a-statement-about-Comedy-Centrals-censorship-of-episode-201) yesterday: Kind of tough to have a teaching moment if Comedy Central won’t even allow Kyle’s monologue at the end. I hope the censors step in dog shit and track it all over their houses in a Karmic treaty of how bad their efforts stink. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/77 "2010-04-24T04:52:04Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Dang, It looks like I won’t be seeing 201 for awhile. I don’t get cable anymore and was hoping to watch it at southparkstudios, but no luck. > > Fuck those thugs. [Pssst.](http://www.xepisodes.com/index.php) [Mods: delete if inappropriate.] ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/78 "2010-04-24T09:11:19Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > A number of papers and other media outlets _did_ republish the cartoons; that’s how I saw one or two. As I recall, they were pretty stupid (and not in a good, meta way like _South Park_ can be) They were pretty easily available online at the time of the controversy. I’ve seen the twelve _real_ cartoons (and we’ll get to why that’s relevant in a moment). Only two, as far as I remember, actually addressed what was supposed to be the original problem: an author had claimed he couldn’t get anyone to do the illustrations for a children’s book on Mohammed. So two of the cartoons, if memory serves, were drawings of Mohammed suitable for a children’s book. A few of the others mocked the controversy, for instance one showed ten-year-old Mohammed from class 4B - just an ordinary boy who happened to have that name, which after all is very common for Muslim boys. The others? Yeah. Stupid. Also intentionally provoking, in a stupid way - e.g. the infamous bomb-in-the-turban cartoon. I’d like to think that this is because the decent Danish editorial cartoonists just rolled their eyes at the invitation and went on to more interesting projects. On the other hand, the people who were out to stir up trouble with these cartoons added some additional pictures to the pamphlet they published and passed around to get people angry. One was a photo from a French small-town newspaper showing the man who had won a local hog-calling contest. He had dressed up with a fake pig nose and fake pig ears, and in context the photo was just a bit goofy. But these [redacted]s intentionally removed the real caption and said it was a drawing of Mohammed as a pig :mad: ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/79 "2010-04-24T11:43:52Z")
I still don’t get it. 200, at least, had to have been specifically written with the censorship in mind. When Mohammed is covered with the censor bar, they even mention it. They make a big deal out of how the guy cannot appear “in South Park.” It’s meta, and only works as meta. Surely only the bleeping was done by them. I wish I’d seen it. I always watch it online, now. Well, at least it’s kept people from spoiling me on who Cartman’s father is (assuming that wasn’t bleeped, too. That would have been hilarious.) ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983/80 "2010-04-24T14:39:32Z")
Apparently the blogger who posted the threats is a 20 year-old who lives in Virginia in his mom’s house with his brother, wife and son. He was a malcontent in high school, then he converted, married a Muslim woman and had a son. (Way to overdo it on the conversion, dude!) > **[Road to Radicalism: The Man Behind the 'South Park' Threats](https://www.foxnews.com/us/road-to-radicalism-the-man-behind-the-south-park-threats)** > > By all appearances, Zachary Adam Chesser was the boy next door. He played football and was on the crew team at one of the best high schools in the country. He even studied Japanese. He was hardly the sort of boy you'd expect would suggest on a... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-death-threats/536983.md?page=5)