thus spake drake: Chef walks, Cruise threatens, Viacom balks

So earlier this week, it was announced that Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef, was leaving South Park. Apparently an episode ("Trapped in the Closet") that poked fun at Scientology is what did it, as Hayes is follower of MindHead. I guess Hayes had no problem with making fun of Jews, Catholics and Muslims in prior episodes. Anyway, last night Comedy Central was scheduled to air a repeat of that particular episode, which also features an 'in the closet' Tom Cruise. So, being a South Park fan and intrigued by the controversy, I set my DVR to tape it. I checked it after putting my son to sleep, and instead of this episode, they ran the episode where they lampoon Sundance. Here's what I found out today:

Sources from inside Paramount and South Park Studios report that parent company Viacom pulled last night's scheduled repeat of the high-rated "Trapped in the Closet" episode after the humorless Scientologist movie star Tom Cruise threatened to cancel all publicity for Mission Impossible:3 if Comedy Central aired the episode that satirizes Scientology and mocks his sexuality again.

Not only is this the first time that the South Park creators have been officially censored in their ten hit seasons with Comedy Central, Viacom officials also reportedly ordered Matt Stone and Trey Parker not to discuss the reason why their episode was cancelled.

The South Park boys are said to be angry, but will probably get revenge with the manner in which they deal with Scientologist Isaac Hayes' departure from the show.