"South Park" Keeps Chef

Despite Isaac Hayes' recent departure from the hit Comedy Central series South Park, his character, James "Chef" McElroy, will be making his return to South Park, Colorado, in the season premiere of the show's 10th season. The voice of Chef is still a mystery, however, as are most of the details of the plot.

In an interview with Reuters, Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox spoke about bringing the Chef character back to South Park, saying "Knowing these guys as I do, I can't imagine that they're not going to do just that." He added that producer for South Park routinely turn episodes around in less than a week, which means the recent war between South Park and Scientology could be fair game for the episode. And, while production started last week, Matt Stone and Trey Parker are notorious for attacking popular stories in the media.

As for details surrounding the plot, the New York Daily News quoted a press release from Comedy Central. Apparently, Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski and Kenny McCormick are happy "to have their old friend back, [but] they notice that something about Chef seems different. When Chef's strange behavior starts getting him in trouble, the boys pull out all the stops to save him." The episode will be titled "The Return of Chef".

Is it not known if Scientology or Tom Cruise will be involved in this episode. Also unclear is how long Chef will be around for.

Isaac Hayes has voiced "Chef" for the first nine seasons of South Park, but recently quit the show, citing its religious intolerance (See Isaac Hayes Quits South Park). The religious intolerance Isaac Hayes spoke of is believed to stem from an earlier episode, "Trapped in the Closet", in which South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone ridicule Scientology, which is Hayes' religion. The story took another turn when Comedy Central cancelled a re-run of the episode. It is widely believed that "Trapped in the Closet" wasn't re-run due to pressure from Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise allegedly threatened to stop doing promotional work for his upcoming blockbuster movie, Mission: Impossible 3, unless the show was pulled (see South Park Battles Scientology, Tom Cruise). The connection between the two is that Viacom is the parent company to both Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures, the company putting out Mission: Impossible 3.

Speaking to Isaac Hayes' quick departure, the BBC quotes Matt Stone saying "In 10 years and over 150 episodes of South Park, Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons or Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show."

Matt Stone and Trey Parker added another shot at Scientology when they released a statement to the Daily Variety, saying "So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!" The statement had been signed by "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu." The note is written in a form that seems to mock Scientology as being science fiction.

South Park's Season 10 premiere episode, "The Return of Chef" will air at 10pm on Wednesday March 22 on Comedy Central. The New York Daily News also reports "Tomorrow's episode is the first of seven new half-hours of "South Park." The remaining seven will begin airing in October."

[Additional Sources: Reuters, New York Daily News, BBC, Daily Variety]