"Edgy" Comedy Central, After Cowering to Islamic Threats Over Depiction of Mohammad, Decides Jesus Fair Game

Fresh off of heavily editing a depiction of Mohammad in "South Park" following threats from practitioners of the "Religion of Peace", the "edgy" comedy network, Comedy Central, shows its artistic "courage" in announcing a new series blaspheming Jesus Christ:

Comedy Central might censor every image of the Prophet Muhammad on "South Park," yet the network is developing a whole animated series around Jesus Christ.

As part of the network's upfront presentation to advertisers (full slate here), the network is set to announce "JC," a half-hour show about Christ wanting to escape the shadow of his "powerful but apathetic father" and live a regular life in New York City.

In the show, God is preoccupied with playing video games while Christ, "the ultimate fish out of water," tries to adjust to life in the big city.

"In general, comedy in purist form always makes some people uncomfortable," [ED.: just so long as the practitioners of Islam aren't among said "some people", right?] said Comedy Central's head of original programming Kent Alterman.

When asked if the show might draw some fire, especially coming on the heels of the network's decision to censor the Muslim faith's religious figure on "South Park," Alterman said its too early in the show's development to be concerned about such matters.

"We don't even know what the show is yet," he said.

Like all Comedy Central executives, Alterman declined to address the recent controversy over "South Park," where the network aired a heavily redacted episode after the show's creators were threatened by an extremist Islamic Web site.

"JC" is produced by Reveille ("The Office"), Henrik Basin, Brian Boyle ("American Dad"), Jonathan Sjoberg and Andreas Ohman.

(emphasis and editorial commentary added)

I'm shocked. Not.

Ed Morrissey minces no words in his criticism of Comedy Central's double standard:

Yes, Kent Alterman, you’re quite the brave individual for making “some” people uncomfortable. Those would be the “some” people who won’t issue threats of violence for your satires. Comedy Central and Viacom have no appetite for making some other people uncomfortable — the very people who would not waste a moment in shutting down Comedy Central if given the opportunity.

South Park takes an honest approach to satire by skewering everyone equally. They lost a major cast member when they satirized Scientology, and no doubt have had complaints from many groups about their portrayal of Jesus, Buddha, Joseph Smith, Lao Tze, and other religious figures. But one never got the sense that Parker and Stone had it out for any one group because their satires ran the entire gamut, at least until Comedy Central began censoring them.

And even that would have been understandable — had CC made the decision to avoid religious satire altogether. Instead, they’re launching a new effort to parody Christianity while imposing the rule of radical Islamists on satires of Islam. There’s a word for the kind of people who only pick fights with no risk whatsoever: pussies.

(emphasis added, except for that last word - emphasis is in original on that one)

The Anchoress offers this most appropriate critique on Comedy Central's pathetic bluster and pretense of being cutting edge:

This move by Comedy Central is like watching the ultra-hip smart-aleck in the cafeteria who, having peed himself during an encounter with a bully, is now trying to re-establish his edgy bona fides by making fun of the non-threatening AV Crew; high school bravado, nowhere near as sophisticated as it believes itself to be.

As a Christian, I am unoffended by this move. The Triune God has awfully big shoulders; he can take it.

It is Comedy Central that betrays the tiny fragility that lies behind its strut.

I am embarrassed for them.

(emphasis added)