That last week's 200th episode blow-out of South Park was sacrilegious should come as no surprise, but this was no ordinary taking-the Lord's-name-in-vain kind of sacrilege (although there was plenty of that). Instead, the anniversary episode indulged in "Buddha doing a line of coke"-level blasphemy, and it may have led to death threats for creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
To recap: In last week's celebrity-studded episode "200," Tom Cruise threatened to sue the entire town unless they could arrange for a face-to-face meeting with the Prophet Mohammed, a taboo-for-parody figure who Cruise believed could make him impervious to being made fun of. The town's citizens squabbled ("If he shows up here, we'll get bombed") and noted in a bit of meta-commentary that they couldn't even circulate an image of the prophet because it was "completely off-limits and censored." Finally, upon nabbing Mohammed, the town agreed that shuttling the prophet around in a windowless U-haul truck (while he wore a bear mascot costume) would be the only safe way to present him.
Still, the careful disguising of the Muslim prophet was not enough for the radical Muslim website RevolutionMuslim.com, who posted a message to South Park creators on Monday: "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show...This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."
The post included a graphic photo of van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker (and descendant of Vincent van Gogh) who was assassinated in 2004 after embarking on a project that criticized the treatment of women in Islam. Even more worrisome? The site's link to a Huffington Post article about Stone and Parker's mansion in Colorado.
Abu Talhah al Amrikee, the author of the post, told Fox News that he posted the warning to "raise awareness" and "explain the severity" of the potential repercussions that Parker and Stone face.
Developing...
ยท Security Brief: Radical Islamic Web site takes on South Park [CNN]