SBS drops South Park episode on the Pope

AN EPISODE of cartoon program South Park that features the Pope has been pulled from Australian television.

The final episode of the current series of the long-running US animated series — which had been scheduled for Monday — has been “deferred”, according to an SBS spokesman.

Because of sensitivities about religious cartoons in the wake of the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, SBS would have to give “some more thought” to the scheduling of the Bloody Mary episode.

“Given the current worldwide controversy over cartoons of religious figures, we’ve decided to defer this program,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The episode shows a statue of the Virgin Mary spurting menstrual blood on the Pope.

It was shown in New Zealand on Wednesday night, prompting a vigil by hundreds of Catholics outside broadcaster TV Works. Despite the protest, 200,000 New Zealanders watched the program, six times the usual audience.

South Park has been doing the same old thing for years. How does it make sense for SBS to take this action now?

Well screw the Catholic fundamentalists. Get your Bit Torrent client onto this torrent. I’ll have it seeding for the next couple of weeks for anyone that wants to see what all the fuss is about.

Illustration: Cathy Wilcox
Illustration: Cathy Wilcox