Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef on Comedy Central’s South Park, has quit the show saying he can no longer stomach its take on religion.
“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.”
The shows co-creator Matt Stone responded by saying, “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 says that 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.”
In an interview published in GQ earlier this year Trey Parker said, “To be honest, what kept us from [parodying Scientology] before was Isaac Hayes. We knew he is a Scientologist and he’s an awesome guy. We were like, ‘Let’s just avoid that for now.’ … Finally, we just had to tell Isaac, ‘Dude, we totally love working with you and this is nothing personal, it’s just we’re “South Park,” and if we don’t do this, we’re belittling everything else we’ve ripped on.’ “
It’s a shame to see Isaac Hayes and Chef leaving the South Park world. Chef added a much needed grounding stone to the oddities of the South Park world.
§
§
Oh, man! That’s a damn shame. Does this mean that Mr. Durp is coming back?
— de 
§
Atom ‧ RSS 2.0 ‧ Forked.net
Content © Nate Renrek, Design © Mark Pilgrim
§
Escorts Dublin ‧ London Escort Agency ‧ nyc apartments for sale ‧ Theatre Tickets