Super Best Friends No More

Last night South Park broadcast part two of an epic episode that took on the Mohammed cartoons controversy (the Inkifada, as John Tabin and I and no one else has called it) in the inimitable Parker-Stone fashion. I thought the first half was remarkably preachy and dull, and missed the conclusion. Apparently, it was a big deal.

Part one of "Cartoon Wars" ended with a jokey, super-dramatic "stay tuned!" montage that promised next week would showcase an image of Mohammed if "Comedy Central doesn't puss out." In part two, when Mohammed was supposed to appear, a disclaimer blacked out the screen. It wasn't immediately clear if this was an extremely meta joke or whether the network really pussed out. National Review's Stephen Spruill called Comedy Central and they confirmed, yes, they requested that the image be taken out of the episode.

And here we have one of the dumbest milestones in the Mohammed controversy so far. Mohammed has actually appeared on the show before, as part of a Superfriends-style team of religious figures. He had the power of fire; Joseph Smith had the power of ice.