Fans of South Park were disappointed last night when a scheduled rerun of the show's infamous, Scientology-mocking "Trapped in the Closet" episode, in which Tom Cruise locks himself in new Hubbardite savior Stan's closet, was quietly yanked. The Hollywood Interrupted blog reports that a threat from Cruise himself may have been behind the episode's sudden disappearance.
Sources from inside Paramount and South Park Studios report that parent company Viacom pulled last night's scheduled repeat of the high-rated "Trapped in the Closet" episode after the humorless Scientologist movie star Tom Cruise threatened to cancel all publicity for Mission Impossible:3 if Comedy Central aired the episode that satirizes Scientology and mocks his sexuality again.
Not only is this the first time that the South Park creators have been officially censored in their ten hit seasons with Comedy Central, Viacom officials also reportedly ordered Matt Stone and Trey Parker not to discuss the reason why their episode was cancelled.
The South Park boys are said to be angry, but will probably get revenge with the manner in which they deal with Scientologist Isaac Hayes' departure from the show.
If Cruise did indeed make the threat, Viacom really should've called his bluff. Sure, Cruise might've been upset that a crudely animated version of himself was being abused on television, but those feelings would probably pass once he started to get excited about the opportunity to turn another huge publicity tour into a glorified infomercial for his wedding plans and anti-psychiatry crusade.
