While South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone continued to advocate against censorship and defended their work, Comedy Central heavily censored the episode in order to protect its employees. Threats and veiled references were made comparing the creators to Dutch director Theo Van Gogh, who was murdered after a film he made portrayed violence against women in some Islamic societies.
In Islamic traditions, the Prophet is not allowed to be depicted in any way yet, the newspaper ran the images, and despite outcries from several prominent Muslim groups, the paper did not back down.Īfter episode '200' aired, threats were leveled against both creators of the show and Comedy Central if they depicted the image of Muhammad further. Back in 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten ran unflattering images of the Prophet Muhammad, which lead to global riots and death threats. Predictably, the creators' decision to essentially mock the Danish Muhammad cartoons controversy led to some significant backlash against South Park.
