South Park's self-proclaimed mission is to spoof contemptuous issues, especially either extreme. Creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker use current pop culture as major themes in each episode. In 2005, shortly after Tom Cruise's notorious appearance on Oprah's talk-show, South Park came out with an episode featuring the Church of Scientology, titled "Trapped in the Closet". The full episode can be viewed below.
The plot of the episode involves "Stan" becoming a member of Scientology, and being informed of the Scientologist belief system, which accompanied by an on-screen caption reading "This is what Scientologists actually believe. Parker and Stone specifically wrote this portion of the episode to be as close to factually correct as possible to bring attention to how absurd the beliefs sound on their own. Stan later voices concern over the validity of a church that takes money from members, leading the church to admit that their organization is really just a money-grabbing scam(1).
The episode caused great upset in the Church of Scientology. Marty Rathbun, a former Scientology executive, made public several documents exposing the church's attempts to "dig up dirt" on producers Parker and Stone in retaliation. When questioned about the documents, the Church of Scientology's spokesperson Karin Pouw denied that the church had any knowledge of them, and accused Rathbun of being "an admitted liar and suborner of perjury."(2) The church claims that Rathbun began forging documents in order to sully their name after being dismissed. This question dodging and name-calling only brought more negative attention to Scientology, as they were portrayed as cowardly and immature in the media(2).
The episode caused great upset in the Church of Scientology. Marty Rathbun, a former Scientology executive, made public several documents exposing the church's attempts to "dig up dirt" on producers Parker and Stone in retaliation. When questioned about the documents, the Church of Scientology's spokesperson Karin Pouw denied that the church had any knowledge of them, and accused Rathbun of being "an admitted liar and suborner of perjury."(2) The church claims that Rathbun began forging documents in order to sully their name after being dismissed. This question dodging and name-calling only brought more negative attention to Scientology, as they were portrayed as cowardly and immature in the media(2).
The controversy also spilled onto the set of the show itself. The actor who voices "Chef" on South Park, Isaac Hayes, identifies as a Scientologist. Although South Park is an equal opportunity satirist, and has criticized and teased many other religions, its portrayal of Scientology caused Hayes to quit the show. When asked about his opinion on the episode, he said that he'd confronted Parker and Stone to say "Guys, you have it all wrong. We're not like that. I know that's your thing, but get your information correct, because somebody might believe that shit, you know."(2) This attitude is fairly hypocritical, as Hayes was comfortable with the South Park episodes that portrayed many other religions in a humorously negative light. Parker and Stone mentioned this hypocrisy once Hayes officially left the show.
Following Hayes' quitting of South Park, the episode "The Return of Chef" was produced which portrayed his character, Chef (using saved sound bites from previous episodes), as a victim of brainwashing by an evil organization. In it, the character Kyle addresses the audience, urging them to "remember Chef as the jolly old guy who always broke into song" and not to blame him for his poor behaviour, but instead "that fruity little club for scrambling his brains." This was an obvious allusion to Hayes' Scientology, and the perception that his religion cause him to betray his friends. The episode also involves the violent and drawn out death of Chef, suggesting that Parker and Stone hadn't entirely forgiven Hayes for his betrayal, despite his "brainwashing."(2)
References:
1. Parker, T. (Writer & Producer). (2005). Trapped in the closet [Television series episode]. In Parker, T., Stone, M., & Garefino, A. (Producers), South park. New York City, NY: Comedy Central Productions.
2. Ortega, T. (2011, October 25). Scientology responds in typical fashion to South Park investigation documents. The Village Voice. Retrieved from http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/10/scientology_res.php