Isaac Hayes quits South Park over 'ridicule' of religion

Soul singer Isaac Hayes.

LOS ANGELES - Soul music veteran Isaac Hayes, the voice of the libidinous character Chef on the satiric TV cartoon "South Park," is leaving the show, citing its "inappropriate ridicule" of religion.

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs and others begins," Hayes said in a statement.

Hayes, 63, a follower of the Church of Scientology, did not mention a "South Park" episode that aired last year in the US poking fun at Scientology and some of its celebrity adherents, including actor Tom Cruise.

Rather, the statement said the show's parody of religion is part of what Hayes sees as a "growing insensitivity toward personal spiritual beliefs" in the media generally, including the recent controversy over a Danish cartoon depiction of the Muslim Prophet Mohammad.

In New Zealand the airing of South Park's 'Bloody Mary' episode on channel C4 caused controversy. Despite a call to boycott the channel by Catholic Church groups, the episode rated well.


The episode depicted a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding which is taken to be a miracle until Pope Benedict suggests it is menstruation, at which point the statue spurts blood on him.

The episode sparked protests around the world.

Soul singer Hayes, who became the first black composer to win an Academy Award for best song with his theme to the film "Shaft," said he formally asked to be released from his contract with "South Park," on US cable channel Comedy Central.

A spokesman for the network said producers of the show and its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, had agreed to not to "enforce" Hayes' contract.

"Obviously, Matt and Trey are disappointed that he's not going to be part of the show, but they're not going to make him do something he doesn't want to do," the spokesman, Tony Fox, told Reuters.

However, he said Stone and Parker "feel that it's a bit disingenuous (for Hayes) to cite religious intolerance as a reason for him pulling out of the show" because the series has lampooned religion since the start, dating back to the short film, "The Spirit of Christmas," on which the series is based.

"Their premise is as long as you can make fun of everybody, then everybody is a potential target," Fox said. "The minute you start pulling punches, than the show's reason for being sort of gets compromised."

The crudely animated cartoon, heading into its 10th season next week as one of Comedy Central's biggest hits, centers on the antics of four foul-mouthed fourth graders in the town of South Park, Colorado. In one episode last year, one of the gang, Stan, scores so high on a test conducted by the Scientologists that they think he is the next L. Ron Hubbard, the late science-fiction writer who founded the religion.

In an interview with Reuters late last year, Hayes talked about a foundation he formed to bring Scientology-based study techniques to underperforming inner-city schools in America, in partnership with fellow devotee Lisa Marie Presley.

"But it's not religious," he said then. "It's just something that people need." Hayes described himself as a Baptist by birth who has spent 14 years as a follower of Scientology.

- REUTERS/VNU