Monday, March 13, 2006

Matt Stone calls Isaac Hayes on his double standard

Isaac Hayes has quit "South Park"--no more appearances from Chef, at least not with Hayes' voice. His reason, however, is bogus:

"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," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.

"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," he continued. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."

"South Park" has been bashing religious views other than Scientology since began in 1997. Hayes is only upset now because his religion, Scientology, was targeted last season in the "Trapped in the Closet" episode, which correctly described some of Scientology's crazy cosmology.

"South Park" co-creator Matt Stone calls him on his hypocrisy:

"This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem — and he's cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians." ...

Stone told The AP he and co-creator Trey Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin."

Parker stated that they intentionally avoided the subject of Scientology--while taking on Christianity, Catholicism, Judaism, Mormonism, Buddhism and Islam--because of Hayes. "We knew he is a Scientologist and he's an awesome guy. We were like, 'Let's just avoid that for now.'"

"South Park" creators Stone and Parker also created a spoof of the Scientology-related film "Battlefield Earth" in 2000 for the MTV Awards, which Isaac Hayes did not play a role in.

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