Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef on Comedy Central animated series “South Park,” has quit the show because of an episode that poked fun at his religion. The soul man turned scientologist was upset by an episode called “Trapped in the Closet,” which targeted the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta. In a statement yesterday, the “Shaft” singer said:

“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. Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored. As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices.”

“South Park” co-creator Matt Stone fired back:

“This has nothing to do with intolerance and bigotry and everything to do with the fact that Isaac Hayes is a Scientologist and that we recently featured Scientology in an episode of ‘South Park.’ In ten years and over 150 episodes of ‘South Park,’ Isaac never had a problem making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons and Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show. To bring the civil rights struggle into this is just a non sequiter. Of course we will release Isaac from his contract and we wish him well.”

This is not funny. Those dumb scientologists should focus on preventing Tom Cruise from acting, not on killing characters of the best animated series ever.

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