Groups Unite to Protest Jesus Christ Cartoon on Comedy Central
Oh, they're serious, but the idea of a supergroup (whose name spells out the acronym 'CARB') of protestors banding together to fight a cartoon that isn't even on the air yet? Well, you can imagine the fun the 'South Park' guys might have with that.The group of TV watchdogs -- made up of Brent Bozell (president, Media Research Center), Bill Donohue (president, Catholic League), Michael Medved (talk radio host), Tony Perkins (president, Family Research Council), Rabbi Daniel Lapin (American Alliance of Jews and Christians) and Parents Television Council president Tim Winter -- have formed the Coalition Against Religious Bigotry ('CARB') to take a stance against 'JC,' an upcoming Comedy Central animated series that revolves around Jesus Christ.
In 'JC,' which has yet to air, be filmed or even have an announced airdate as a show that's in the development stage, the titular son of God moves to New York City, where he wants to live as a normal guy and get out from under the shadow of his father. His dad, meanwhile, is more interested in playing video games than listening to his son ramble on about life in the Big Apple in the comedy, which a Comedy Central press release describes as "a playful take on religion and society with a sprinkle of dumb."
That all adds up to offensive according to CARB, which has scheduled a press conference for Thursday to ask advertisers to boycott the show ... if it makes it to air.
"After we reveal the vile and offensive nature of Comedy Central's previous characterizations of Jesus Christ and God the Father, we expect these advertisers to agree wholeheartedly to end their advertising on Comedy Central and discontinue their support for unabashed, anti-Christian discrimination," Bozell said in a statement. "Why should they be supporting a business that makes a habit of attacking Christianity and yet has a formal policy to censor anything considered offensive to followers of Islam? This double standard is pure bigotry, one from which advertisers should quickly shy away."
The double standard to which Bozell refers is Comedy Central's decision to censor 'South Park' earlier this year from depicting the Prophet Muhammad, the Muslim religious figure, in an episode of the irreverent show. A group called Muslim Revolution had issued a warning that amounted to a thinly veiled death threat against 'Park' creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker for the episode, in which Muhammad was shown in a bear costume.
Comedy Central has yet to respond to the formation of CARB, though when 'JC' was announced in May, Comedy Central head of original programming Kent Alterman told the Hollywood Reporter, "In general, comedy in purist form always makes some people uncomfortable."
And when asked if the network was concerned with 'JC' drawing protests from religious groups, Alterman replied that it was too soon to discuss such matters. "We don't even know what the show is yet," he said.
Meanwhile, CARB has put together a little clip called "Comedy Central's Respect for Christianity," showing past portrayals of God on the network, which, of course, all come from 'South Park':

16 Comments