That’s the headline from the alternate universe where Tea Partiers are as violent and benighted as Frank Rich is convinced they are, on the occasion of the latest Comedy Central news. The Hollywood Reporter:
As part of the network’s upfront presentation to advertisers, 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 general, comedy in purist form always makes some people uncomfortable,” 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.
Besides hilarious!
Even if you have a problem with this — which I don’t, because God’s own impish sense of humor is proven by the existence of Chris Matthews — it’s absolutely amazing that this is coming from the same network that just censored the very idea of depicting Mohammed. Not actually depicting Mohammed, but merely saying Mohammed was inside a funny-animal bear suit. And then it really turned out to be Santa Claus. Even this Mohammed-depiction-twice-removed was too much for CC after a few nutburgers threatened to decapitate Matt & Trey, but an entire weekly series mocking Mo’s main rival is just peachy.
Why? Because Christians are a lot less likely to threaten to kill you when you mock their faith. They just stop watching your shows and reading your magazines and going to your movies. They understand that you have the right to offend them, and they have the right to turn their backs on you.
You can’t mock Mohammed, but you can mock Jesus. When a Muslim terrorist tries to kill a bunch of people in Times Square, you have to speculate that maybe he’s a teabagger. Or he’s bummed about losing his house. Or, hey, who knows what the guy was thinking? You have to warn against an anti-Muslim backlash that never comes.
You have to obey.