Isaac 'Chef' Hayes quits 'South Park'

Isaac 'Chef' Hayes quits 'South Park':

Soul singer Isaac Hayes, voice of the Yoda-esque 'Chef' character in Comedy Central's 'South Park', said he was quitting the show after nine seasons, citing 'inappropriate ridicule' of religion as the reason.

Stop laughing. Religious Intolerance is not funny.

We should all be equally tolerant of all religions. I think Mssrs Parker and Stone agree:

Past episodes of South Park have skewered Catholics, Jews and Mormons, among others. However, according to Stone, he and 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," Stone told the Associated Press.

Well, I'm glad that the two parties agree, in a way.

In January 2006, [Mr] Hayes told the New York Daily News that he loved the "humor in it, the audacity of Matt and Trey."

"Nobody is exempt from their humor," he said. "They're equal-opportunity offenders. Don't be offended by it. If you take it too seriously, you have problems."

Oddly enough, I think Mr Hayes took it too seriously when it hit too close to home, and that's unfortunate, especially so soon after he told members of other religions, essentially, to get over themselves.

Currently I'm waiting for the Vegas betting pool to open on just which snide phrase is used in the episode where the Chef character is killed. My favourite is

"Clam-bake? Oh, I love bakin' them clams!"