5 Banned South Park Episodes You Can't Watch On Max

Even before "South Park" debuted, it was controversial. In the mid-1990s, Matt Stone and Trey Parker put together a pair of Christmas-themed animated shorts full of violence and foul language. The second short, 1995's "The Spirit of Christmas," featured Jesus Christ and Santa Claus savagely beating each other up. Several kids were killed in the melee. That short was distributed on bootleg VHS cassettes by multiple Hollywood celebrities, most notably George Clooney, and Parker and Stone suddenly had the ear of producers and muckety-mucks. 

"South Park" debuted in 1997, and it retained all the potty jokes and shock humor as the holiday special. It was an instant smash, gaining attention for its daring attitude and edgy comedy. Many liked the pairing of shock humor with crude animation, lending "South Park" an anarchic, punk rock feeling. For its first few seasons, "South Park" was beloved by edgelords and intellects alike. 

Against all odds, "South Park" has remained on the air for 25 years. And while Stone and Parker have grown and changed as comedians, they have constantly endeavored to keep "South Park" as confrontational and shocking as always. Just when you think they've blown the lid off of the last possible sensitive topic, they push the envelope even further. 

Often, the jokes land, however edgy. Sometimes, though, Stone and Parker go too far. "South Park" is currently available on Max (although it's moving to Paramount+ soon) and five of the show's notorious episodes have been banned from the platform. The reasons for the five episodes' bans vary, but as of this writing, one has to watch them by other means than streaming. Below are the five episodes in question.

One can see right away why some people might object to the episode "Super Best Friends" (July 4, 2001). In it, real-life magician David Blaine appears in South Park and dazzles all the locals with his magic tricks. Many begin to believe that David Blaine is actually magical, and an intense cult quickly surrounds him. Jesus Christ, a resident of South Park, is incensed that Blaine is attracting believers despite being an obvious con man. The followers call themselves "Blaintologists," in a riff on Scientologists. 

Jesus, in a comic book fashion, decides to assemble a super-team of super-powered compatriots. The team consists of Krishna, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Muhammad, Moses, Joseph Smith, and, uh, Sea-Man, an underwater superhero very much like Aquaman. They learn that David Blaine aims to stage a mass suicide in Washington DC, and it will be up to the Super Best Friends to stop him. The episode climaxes with Blaine animating the Lincoln Memorial, making a kaiju Abraham Lincoln. In order to kill Lincoln, the Super Best Friends make a giant animated robot of John Wilkes Booth. Clearly, this is the height of good taste. 

The main reason "Super Best Friends" has been banned is because of its depiction of Muhammad. Islam, to remind the readers, doesn't believe in icons (according to the hadith texts), and it's considered blasphemous to depict Muhammad in any form. Some might recall the 2005 controversy when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten posted cartoons of Muhammad, sparking a firestorm of controversy. 

"Super Best Friends" got little pushback when it aired, but became targeted when later episodes of "South Park," also depicting Muhammad, began to air. 

"Cartoon Wars, Part I" (April 5, 2006) was also banned from Max for a Muhammad-based controversy, this time, made in the wake of the Jyllands-Posten scandal. In July 2001, Parker and Stone weren't much attacked for their depiction of Muhammad. In a post-9/11 world, however, there was increased sensitivity to anti-Islam sentiment, and the American public began paying closer attention to how Muslims were being treated worldwide. Stone and Parker, being impish nihilists, decided to satirize the phenomenon by envisioning a fake episode of Seth McFarlane's "Family Guy" wherein Muhummad appeared in a comedic aside. 

The entire town of South Park becomes terrified that Fox's use of Muhammad in a TV show will invite violent retribution, and everyone undergoes Muslim Sensitivity Training. No one wants to be killed for looking at Muhammad and, in a very unsubtle act, literally bury their heads in the sand. Cartman, meanwhile, enlists Kyle to go to Hollywood to confront the makers of "Family Guy" (also noted for their shock humor) about their writing and insensitivity to the Muslim community. This is a rare show of compassion from the villainous Cartman, and Kyle senses that something else is afoot. 

In the original draft of "Cartoon Wars, Part I," Muhammad did appear on-screen, but Comedy Central insisted the character be censored. This angered Stone and Parker, as they felt their jokes made at the expense of other religions made it to air, and were confused as to why Islam should be spared from satire. In a weird way, "Cartoon Wars, Part I" tells the story of its own making. 

Of course, there is a plot twist in "Cartoon Wars, Part II" (April 12, 2006). Cartman reveals in the second part of the episode that he wasn't concerned with the plight of Muslims, censorship, or sensitivity at all. What he found distasteful was that "Family Guy" merely seemed to ape his own personal sense of humor. He resented, now, that when he made jokes, he was accused of taking "Family Guy" as inspiration. 

The purpose of the episode shifts from a satire about censorship to a deliberate takedown of Seth McFarlane's "Family Guy." Trey Parker and Matt Stone have gone on record with how lazy they feel the show is, accusing McFarlane of making meaningless pop culture references instead of writing character-based stories. "Cartoon Wars, Part II" takes Kyle behind the scenes of "Family Guy" only to reveal that the writers are all trained manatees who select random pop culture references from an enormous store of emblazoned beach balls. Upon learning this, Kyle and Cartman team up to take down the manatees.

To conclude the Muhammad story, Parker and Stone featured the real-life Ayman al-Zawahiri who threatened Americans with the harshest retaliation for their depiction of Muhammad: a satirical cartoon of George W. Bush. Clearly, Parker and Stone felt the Jyllands-Posten scandal was a tempest in a teapot. Because the episode still dealt with graven images of the Prophet, it, too has been banned from Max.

For their 200th episode, Parker and Stone wanted to do something special. Over the many years "South Park" has been on the air, they have relentlessly mocked every possible celebrity. For Stone and Parker, the very idea of celebrity is risible, and that famous people mistakenly assume that their fame should allow them a louder voice in the public discourse. In "200" (April 14, 2010), hundreds of celebrities finally get together to sue the town of South Park for its relentless mockery of them. The celebrities are led by Tom Cruise. They also include Al Gore, Bono, Mel Gibson, Rob Reiner, Steven Spielberg, and many others who have appeared on "South Park" in the past. 

The twist that got the episode banned: the celebrities demand either an untenable amount of money ... or a face-to-face meeting with the Prophet Muhammad.

The celebrities know that the citizens of South Park know the members of the Super Best Friends, and want to see Muhammad in person; Tom Cruise claims to be a fan. Kyle and Stan do talk to the Super Best Friends, and Muhammad agrees to go with them. This time, however, he remains hidden in the back of a U-Haul throughout the episode. There is a scene wherein someone draws a picture of Muhammad, but it's just a stick man. It seems even that was enough to attract the attention of the Comedy Central censors. 

Parker and Stone clearly felt that four years after "Cartoon Wars," the controversy might have blown over, but that wasn't the case. Parker and Stone were still frustrated by the controversy; why could they depict Buddha snorting cocaine in front of children, but not even show Muhammad on screen? 

Thanks to Max's ban, they're still not.

It was revealed in "200" that the celebrities don't just want to meet Muhammad because they're fans, but because he excretes "goo," which the celebrities can use to give them magical powers. "201" (April 21, 2010) explodes into absurdity. Krishna takes the form of Neil Diamond and performs a duet with a mechanical kaiju version of Barbra Streisand. A separatist movement of gingers takes South Park hostage with bombs. Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and Cartman have to protect Muhammad, who is covered by a "censored" bar throughout the episode. There is also a subplot involving Mitch Connor, a living spirit that has possessed Cartman's hand, and the true identity of his father. In an Oedipal twist, it's revealed that Cartman killed his father and fed him to his own half-brother.

At the end of the episode, Kyle, Jesus Christ, and Santa Claus all give an impassioned speech about censorship and freedom of expression ... and the intimidation that goes with it. The speech brings the two-part episode to a dark thematic conclusion. In an ironic twist, when "201" aired, Comedy Central censored the entire speech. Here it is in print: 

"I learned something today. Throughout this whole ordeal, we've all wanted to show things that we weren't allowed to show, but it wasn't because of some magic goo! It was because of the magical power of threatening people with violence. That's obviously the only true power. If there's anything we've all learned, it's that terrorizing people works." [...] All you need to do is instill fear and be willing to hurt people and you can get whatever you want! The only true power... is violence!"

The episode only aired once. It's not on Max. Indeed, "Super Best Friends" was banned sort of as an ancillary effect of "201." Only bootlegs can be found online.