Chef has left the show. Why? His official reason: "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," the 63-year-old soul singer said in a statement. Hmmmm... but hasn't South Park been poking fun at religion (sometimes VERY hard fun) for its entire existence? Trey Parker, as usual, is spot-on: He said he and co-creator Trey Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin." Indeed. I'm a devout Catholic, and over the years my faith has consistently been a target of South Park. Most of the time however, the criticism was offered in a... ahem... fair humorous manner, and in the COMPLETELY over the top style of Parker and Stone. I'm not sure what this says about Scientology, but as for Isaac Hayes he's either a bigot or a hypocrite. UPDATE 03/17/06: Comedy Central has upped the ante, pulling a repeat of the episode due to air last night. Never a friend of Christianity or other established world religions, apparently Scientology is the network's officially endorsed religion. In response to the episode not airing, Matt and Trey issued the following statement: "So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!" The duo signed the statement "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."