;">South Park - Muhammad Incident
Date: 2010
Region: United States
Subject: Religion
Medium: Television
Artist: Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park
Confronting Bodies: Muslim extremist group, Revolution Islam
Dates of Action: April 2010
Location: New York, New York
Description of Artwork: The South Park episode depicted founders of several religions, including Jesus and Buddha. Muhammad was shown wearing a bear costme, because the writers knew that previous cartoon depictions of Muhammad in Denmark received harsh criticism from Muslim extremists.
The Incident: The writers received a harsh threat from a Brooklyn-based group called "Revolution Islam." On their website, they claimed that writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone, "will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh." Theo Van Gogh is the Dutch filmmaker who was killed after making a documentary about the abuse of women in Muslim countries. The writers of South Park thus perceives this as a direct death threat.
Results of Incident: The writers, instead of pulling this episode completely, decided to bleep the name Muhammad and when the bear character took off the costume, Santa Claus was revealed to be underneath. The other religious figures depicted in the episode remained without controversy.