The episodes 200 and 201 were based around the fact that Prophet Muhammad couldn't be made fun of, and because of this the main goal of the celebrities South Park made fun of and the Gingers was to capture Muhammad, hook him up to a machine, and then extract his "power" to not be made fun of. Because of this, Muhammad wasn't used in any more cartoons due to fear. Shortly after this incident, protesters set fire to a Danish Embassy in Syria. The creators based their show off of the fact that after a Danish newspaper published some cartoons depicting Muhammad in 2005, many others were scared of showing any image of Muhammad. The reason for not only the censorship of Prophet Muhammad's name but the censorship of others was not only for the safety of the creators, but it was part of the intended humor of the episode. Like kyle says"either everything is ok, or none of it is". It is true Comedy Central is a business and has right of refusal but this is not going to win them anything but the disdain of their viewers and if they didn't want to air the show like it was, they should have refused the entire thing. Kyle,Jesus & Santa's speeches were completely censored despite the fact Kyle's speech had no reference to muhammed.Even mohammed's name was censored, which was about 23 times.So much censoring takes the fun out of the show.
I am not bothered that they censored muhammed's image cause it is offensive to Muslims but by the amount of censorship involved in the episode. Since 2009 this episode cannot be streamed online.
In south park season 5 episode 4(Original Air Date: Jul 4, 2001) "the super best friends" there is a depiction of Muhammad which had been aired without any censorship. I understand and completely agree that it was censored to protect its creators, but I have issue with the amount of censoring that took place in the episode and not the reasons for the censorship. In conclusion, it is obvious that the censorship of certain parts in episode 201 was necessary to protect the safety of the South Park creators. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them." The article contained a reference to Theo Van Gogh, who was shot and stabbed to death for simply making a film about Muslim women. The author of the article, Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, had stated that "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. The website had written an article threatening violence towards the two creators for showing the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit during episode 200. Jon Stewart has stated that South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker's lives were in danger, and censoring the episode was a way of protecting their lives. There has been much controversy, but I believe that Comedy Central made the right decision. In South Park's 201st episode, Prophet Muhammad's name and other parts were censored.