10 Banned Episodes Of Beloved TV Sitcoms
3. 201 - South Park
Just to prove how bizarre South Park’s history is, this banned episode was actually nominated for a Primetime Emmy. And, in all fairness, it was a good time to honour the show’s achievements, as it was celebrating its 200th episode.
One of the most controversial shows of all time, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker drew from as much of their previously contentious content as possible for this double-bill episode. 200 was the set-up: Tom Cruise leads a legion of mocked celebrities to the town of South Park and promises a class-action lawsuit unless they can produce the prophet Muhammad.
201 sees the second half of this, and features many religious figures, including Muhammad himself - a hugely divisive choice considering that previous cartoon drawings of the prophet in newspapers had resulted in riots.
Threats to the studio and the lives of Parker and Stone were pretty prevalent before the episode even aired, but it did get one showing on April 21st 2010.
However, 201 was heavily censored. Black bars obscured Muhammad and all of his dialogue was bleeped, which rendered the show’s final moments a mess - almost a statement in itself. However, 201 was never shown again, not on TV or on the South Park website.