Top South Park Controversies

Well, before I get into the top South Park controversies, below I've included the promo for the first episode of season 14, looks like it's going to deal with Tiger Woods and it should be good.

Now then, South Park is a show that has tried to offend just about everyone in the book. Whether it's Christians, Scientologists, or even Steve Irwin, South Park has went after them. These attempts to offend have resulted in a good deal of controversies for the show. Here are some of the top controversies:

• Christian Controversies

South Park has created a lot of controversy with the Chrisian crowd for issues ranging from depictions of Jesus to the depiction of the Virgin Mary. In regard to the depiction of Jesus, Chrisitians have gotten angry over many aspects of the Jesus South Park depicts. Some of these aspects include: Jesus saying the word "goddamn," shooting and stabbing other characters, and being unable to perform actual miracles.

Another point of controversy with Christians is from the episode "Bloody Mary" which aired on December 7, 2005. The date it aired was the night before the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Catholic holiday related to the Virgin Mary. The episode revolves around the belief of society that a statue of the Virgin Mary that is bleeding from its rectum is a miracle. The Catholic League demand that Comedy Central apology and campaigned unsuccesfully to have the episode removed from the airing schedule and never be made available on DVD.

• Scientology Controversy

Undoubtedly the most controversial South Park episode ever was the episode that aired on November 16, 2005 titled "Trapped in the Closet." This episode trashed on Scientology, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and R. Kelly. The episode resulted in a whole lot of controversy. Comedy Central, a network owned by Viacom, pulled a rerun of the episode, supposedly under pressure from Tom Cruise, who was threatening to not promote his film "Mission Impossible III." The episode was eventually reaired many times. The episode also caused Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef and a practicing Scientoligist, to quit the show. This lead to the hilarious skewering of the Chef character in the episode "The Return of Chef."

• Steve Irwin Controversy

Shortly after the death of the iconic crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, South Park aired an episode titled "Hell on Earth 2006" in which Satan was hosting a giant Halloween party and Steve Irwin was one of Satan's guests. To make it even worse, he had a stingray barb sticking out of his chest. This sparked controversy as many people thought it was too soon after his death to do jokes about it. A friend of the Irwin family released a statement saying that the episode went "too far too soon."

Well that's all for this week.  Join me next week as I review the season premier of season 14 of South Park.