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Trapped in the Closet (South Park episode)
Encyclopedia
"Trapped in the Closet" is the twelfth episode of the ninth season
of the animated series South Park
, and the 137th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central
in the United States
on November 16, 2005. The plot of the episode centers on Stan
as he joins Scientology
in an attempt to find something "fun and free". After the discovery of his surprisingly high "thetan
levels", he is recognized as the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard
, the founder of the church. The title is a reference to the R. Kelly
serialized song of the same name
; a satirized version of R. Kelly appears in the episode.
The episode generated significant controversy. Tom Cruise
, who is portrayed in the episode, reportedly threatened to back out of his promotional obligations for the Paramount Pictures
film Mission: Impossible III
if Viacom
, the owner of both Comedy Central and Paramount, allowed a repeat of the episode to air. Though the episode was originally scheduled for rebroadcast on March 15, 2006, the episode "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls
" was shown instead. Comedy Central representatives stated this change was made as a tribute to Isaac Hayes
, but South Park creators Trey Parker
and Matt Stone
thought otherwise; they issued a satirical statement saying they (Parker and Stone) were "servants of the dark lord Xenu
". Hayes, the voice of staple character Chef
, asked to be released from his contract shortly before the start of the tenth season. The reason for his departure, as reported by Matt Stone
, was due to his membership in Scientology and this episode, which Hayes—despite initially supporting the show's satirical take on several talk shows—claimed was very offensive. The episode has since been rebroadcast on Comedy Central multiple times, and the episode is available on the South Park Studios website.
"Trapped in the Closet" was nominated for an Emmy Award
in July 2006, in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
category. The episode was featured among Comedy Central's list of "10 South Parks That Changed The World", spoofed by Conan O'Brien
in the opening segment of the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards
, and mentioned in the Scientology critique film The Bridge
. TV Guide
ranked the episode #17 on its list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".
" that is being offered by Scientologists on the street. After answering a long questionnaire, Stan is informed that he is extremely depressed and therefore a perfect candidate for Scientology; they offer to help him out for $240. Back at home, Stan asks his parents for money to help with his depression, and his father suggests he use the money he had been saving for a new bike. After he pays, Stan is taken into an auditing
room, and an attendant named Michelle reads his "thetan
levels" using an "E-meter
". Stan has a high reading that shocks Michelle and the results are faxed to the Scientology headquarters
in Los Angeles
. There, the president of Scientology determines that, because his reading is so high, Stan must be a reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard
, Scientology's founder and prophet
.
Later that night, a large group of Scientologists, including John Travolta
, have gathered outside to celebrate Hubbard's "second coming". The president of Scientology arrives in a helicopter and talks with Stan's parents; they oppose his being in the group, but the president informs them that, "We're not asking him to join us; we're asking him to lead us." Randy sends Stan to his room where he finds Tom Cruise
waiting for him. Cruise, thinking Stan is genuinely Hubbard's reincarnation, asks him whether he enjoyed his acting. When Stan tells Cruise that his acting is not as good as others', Tom locks himself in Stan's bedroom closet, believing he is "a failure in the eyes of the prophet". He refuses to come out, despite the attempts of Randy, Nicole Kidman
, Travolta, and R. Kelly
to persuade him to "come out of the closet
"; Travolta and Kelly eventually go into the closet as well.
Downstairs, the Scientology president tries to convince Stan's parents to let their son join them. They want to reveal the great secret of life behind their church to Stan. Randy asks his son if he would like to know this information, and Stan responds with "sure". The president tells him a condensed version of the story of Xenu
, based directly on the actual Scientology Operating Thetan
III document, and accompanied by an onscreen caption reading, "This is what Scientologists actually believe." After explaining these beliefs, he tells Stan to continue writing where "L. Ron" left off. Stan begins writing and he shows his writings to the Scientology president, who approves of most of his work; but when Stan says, "to really be a church, they can't charge money to help", the president reveals to Stan that the church is in reality a money making scam
.
Outside the house, the president introduces Stan to his followers, to whom he will read his new doctrine
. However, instead of presenting it to them, Stan states that he is actually not the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard, and that: "Scientology is just a big fat global scam." His followers grow angry, and threaten to sue him. Tom Cruise leaves Stan's closet and appears, threatening to sue Stan as well. Stan dares them to do so, and the episode ends with the credits listing only "John Smith" and "Jane Smith", a reference to Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology's reputations for litigiousness
.
. The MTV short was entitled "The Gauntlet" and included "John Travolta and the Church of Scientology" arriving in a spaceship to defeat Russell Crowe
(as a Gladiator
) and attempt to recruit the boys into Scientology. Travolta, along with his fellow Scientologists, was depicted as a Psychlo, as he appeared in the film Battlefield Earth
. They had also made fun of Scientology in an earlier episode, entitled "Super Best Friends
", in which David Blaine
formed his own cult
, called "Blaintology". Parker and Stone have acknowledged that this is meant to be a reference to Scientology.
Parker stated that Isaac Hayes' membership had previously kept the show's creators from writing a full-episode which parodies Scientology. However, the decision to ultimately produce a South Park episode satirizing Scientology was partially inspired by the friendship the show's creators have with Penn Jillette
. Jillette was originally planning to do an episode of Bullshit! based on Scientology, but Showtime prohibited him from doing so to avoid the possibility of legal action from the Church of Scientology. Parker commented, "We're going, That's fucked up. And hearing other people say, 'You can't do that,' - you can only say 'You can't do that' so many times to Matt and me before we're gonna do it. Finally, we just had to tell Isaac, 'Dude, we totally love working with you, and this is nothing personal, it's just we're South Park, and if we don't do this, we're belittling everything else we've ripped on.
Although some questions were raised prior to the episode's screening about whether it was wise to take swipes at Cruise and Scientology, Comedy Central declared that it supported Stone and Parker. A Comedy Central spokesman told Radar magazine
in November 2005 that "they are free, and have been, to satirize anybody and anything they want to. They've made fun of MTV, they've made fun of Viacom, they've made fun of Comedy Central, and we've never interfered with them."
During production on the episode, investigative journalist
Mark Ebner
served as a consultant to Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Ebner had previously authored The New York Times
best seller
Hollywood, Interrupted
, which includes an analysis of the Church of Scientology
and its effects on the culture in Hollywood
, and has a chapter on Tom Cruise
and John Travolta
's relationship to Scientology. On the official Comedy Central website for the South Park episode, it is asserted that the section of "Trapped in the Closet" that explains Scientology was not exaggerated: "Nothing about what you see here is exaggerated in the slightest. Seriously." The title is a reference to the R. Kelly
song of the same name
, and a depiction of R. Kelly appears in the episode to sing a parody of it.
observed that Hayes did not specifically mention Scientology in his statement. Later in an interview on CNN
's Showbiz Tonight
, Hayes added he did not see the episode itself, but was told about it. In a separate interview, he reportedly said regarding Parker and Stone, "Guys, you have it all wrong. We're not like that. I know that's your thing, but get your information correct, because somebody might believe that shit, you know? But I understand what they're doing. I told them to take a couple of Scientology courses, and understand what we do. [Laughs]."
Responding to Hayes' departure, Stone asserted that "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem—and he's cashed plenty of checks—with our show making fun of Christians." According to Stone, neither he nor Trey Parker had "heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin." Stone commented that "In 10 years and over 150 episodes of South Park, Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons and Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show. To bring the civil rights struggle into this is just a non sequitur. Of course we will release Isaac from his contract and we wish him well." According to a later commentary by Stone, prior to the episode's screening Hayes had asked the South Park creators to have Comedy Central pull the episode before it aired and not include it in the series DVD, which they refused.
There were many conflicting stories as to the exact nature of Hayes' departure. Additional reasons given by Hayes ten months after the departure include "They didn't pay me enough," and "They weren't that nice." In late 2007, reports emerged claiming that Hayes was in no condition to stay, because of a stroke
he suffered in January. According to a Fox News article, Hayes' agent Christina Kimball, herself a devout Scientologist, was the source of the statements that Hayes quit South Park. Stone lent support to this view in a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, commenting that "There are reports that Isaac had a stroke and Scientology quit the show for him, and I believe it... It was a brutal, up-close, personal thing with Isaac. If you look at the timeline, something doesn't add up." Due to the absence of Hayes, Chef was voiced in "The Return of Chef
" using pre-recorded snippets of dialog from previous episodes. The character was written out of the series by being struck by lightning, burned, impaled, shot, and mauled at the end of the episode.
", having Tom Cruise literally refusing to come out of Stan's closet, in a parody
of rumors involving Cruise. Cruise has a documented history of litigation against others involving rumors as to his sexuality, and some speculated whether Cruise could sue South Park. Entertainment Weekly
asked in December 2005 whether South Park was "cruisin' for a bruisin'" and wondered "how that sort of Cruise-bashing is going to go over with Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone's new bosses: Paramount Pictures just inked the dudes to a three-year deal. Other people with Paramount deals? Oh, just, you know, Tom Cruise. Should be one hell of a studio Christmas party".
Concerns over possible litigation were raised in other countries where South Park is syndicated. The episode's planned screening on the UK's Paramount Comedy 1
channel was canceled for fear that Cruise would sue. In Australia, SBS TV
screened the episode in late February, a spokesman telling Australian The Daily Telegraph
that "We haven't received any legal threats so we're going to publish and be damned."
This episode was scheduled to rebroadcast on March 15, 2006 on Comedy Central, but the broadcast was canceled without prior notice, and was replaced with "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls
". Representatives of Comedy Central insist that the episode was changed as a tribute to Isaac Hayes following his departure from the show two days earlier. The following day, the Hollywoodinterrupted.com blog alleged that Comedy Central parent Viacom canceled the rebroadcast due to threats of Cruise to boycott the publicity tour of his upcoming film Mission: Impossible III
. These assertions were soon also reported by E! News
and American Morning
. Fox News
attributed threats from Tom Cruise, stating, "to back out of his Mission: Impossible III promotional duties if Viacom didn't pull a repeat of the episode", as evidence of "bad blood" between Cruise and Viacom (which also owns Paramount Pictures
, the distributor of MI:III). CNN
's The Situation Room
with Wolf Blitzer
also cited "industry sources" who believed the episode was pulled "because the network and Tom Cruise's current movie studio are both owned by the same corporation." The New York Post noted that Cruise had "a history of playing hardball", alleging that he had been responsible for having a sex scene featuring his then-fiancée Katie Holmes
removed from the film Thank You for Smoking prior to its release.
The Washington Post
reported that South Park fans "struck back", in March 2006, and threatened to boycott Mission: Impossible III until Comedy Central put "Trapped in the Closet" back on its schedule. Melissa McNamara of CBS News
later questioned whether this boycott hurt the Mission: Impossible III box office debut. The South Park creators did not comment directly on Comedy Central's decision to pull the episode, reportedly because they had been told not to discuss the matter to avoid embarrassing Cruise. Instead, they issued a statement to Variety
on March 17, 2006, signing the statement, "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu
".
The Los Angeles Times
dubbed the controversy surrounding the episode's rebroadcast "Closetgate". The Independent
later cited the Los Angeles Times, noting that the controversy generated positive publicity for the show's creators: "For Stone and Parker, Closetgate will be the gift that keeps on giving." "Closetgate" has since been used to refer to the "brouhaha" surrounding Isaac Hayes' departure and rebroadcasts of the episode, by other sources including Yahoo! Movies
, BBC
, Turner Classic Movies
, the Herald-Sun, Thoralf Fagertun of the University of Tromsø
, and the Chicago Sun-Times
.
Cruise's representative responded to the controversy shortly after it broke, telling the Associated Press
that the allegations of Cruise's involvement were "not true" and that "he never said that". According to The Washington Post, Cruise's publicist asserted that "Tom had nothing to do with this matter. He's been promoting 'Mission: Impossible III' for the last six months. We have no clue where this came from." Cruise himself addressed the allegations in an interview on ABC
's Primetime in mid-April. When asked about whether he had been involved with stopping the rebroadcast on Comedy Central, Cruise stated, "First of all, could you ever imagine sitting down with anyone? I would never sit down with someone and question them on their beliefs. Here's the thing: I'm really not even going to dignify this. I honestly didn't really even know about it. I'm working, making my movie, I've got my family. I'm busy. I don't spend my days going, 'What are people saying about me?'" A representative of Cruise had also denied any involvement of Cruise with the issue, specifically responding to allegations of Cruise's reputed corporate power play.
In April 2006, TelevisionWeek reported that fans had posted the episode in multiple locations on the internet. At that time, the episode had been viewed over 700,000 times on YouTube
, and an online petition to re-air the episode had garnered 5,000 signatures. TelevisionWeek noted that Comedy Central "looked the other way at the online proliferation" of "Trapped in the Closet". A spokesman for MTV Networks
, owner of Comedy Central, confirmed they had not asked YouTube to pull the episode from their site. The Situation Room also noted that clips from the episode were still available on Comedy Central's web site. In May 2006, "Trapped in the Closet" was shown in London, at the National Film Theatre
. The free screening was followed by a discussion with Parker and Stone, who said the screening was a "display of free speech". Free copies of the episode were given out to attendees after the screening.
On July 19, 2006, Comedy Central did air a rebroadcast of the episode at 10:00 Pacific Time
and did so again on July 23 at 11:00pm Eastern Time and on September 24 at 10:00 PM Eastern time. Matt Stone stated "If they hadn't put this episode back on the air, we'd have had serious issues, and we wouldn't be doing anything else with them." After the episode was scheduled to be rebroadcast, Trey Parker and Matt Stone were interviewed on CNN
's Showbiz Tonight
, where they stated that all of the controversy increased publicity for the episode. Parker was quoted: "But it's really like a publicist couldn't have orchestrated this any better for us. You know what I mean? It's like it's been phenomenal. Tom Cruise has done more for South Park than anyone I think in the world."
The episode was released in several DVDs, including South Park the Hits: Volume 1 and South Park: The Complete Ninth Season, in contradiction with an alleged request by either the Church of Scientology or Cruise to never put the episode on DVD format. The full episode is available for viewing on the web site South Park Digital Studios, at www.southparkstudios.com.
A few references have been made by the show and Comedy Central to Scientology as an aftermath of the controversy. On August 1, 2006, Comedy Central placed an advertisement in Variety
showing the South Park stars against a background of L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology Celebrity Center
, with the headline, "C'mon Jews, show them who really runs Hollywood." Although often misunderstood by the public to parody the Mel Gibson DUI incident, the advertisement actually congratulates South Park on gaining an Emmy nomination for "Trapped in the Closet" and satirizes the cancellation of the episode's rebroadcast in March.
The Rolling Stone
cover article Still Sick, Still Wrong, celebrating the show's anniversary, also referred to the controversy. The article depicted Stone and Parker spray painting graffiti on the church's Los Angeles
headquarters sign, adding "Is dum" to the Scientology logo and a "Hi Tom" message with an accompanying depiction of Cartman's head.
stated the jokes about Tom Cruise "work splendidly and reveal their depth on repeated viewings, much like the show in general." IGN
stated that "Perhaps the largest weakness of this season is that the most notorious episodes Best Friends Forever
and Trapped in the Closet just don't carry the eye-popping impact that they did when they were ripped from the headlines," giving the DVD a rating of 7.0. The San Francisco Chronicle
wrote that Matt Stone and Trey Parker "probably hit their zenith when they made fun of Tom Cruise and Scientology". An article in The Times
wrote that South Park "infamously satirized" texts by L. Ron Hubbard "available only to Operating Thetans". TV Guide
ranked the episode #17 on its 2009 list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".
philosophy
professor Richard Hanley
analyzed the mythology of Scientology, as it relates to the episode "Trapped in the Closet", in his 2007 book South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating
. Hanley called the Xenu story
, as presented in the episode, "utterly ridiculous". He compared Scientology's mythology to Christianity's Virgin birth and the transubstantiation
, stating, "Let's be honest, these beliefs are just as ridiculous as those of Scientology." Hanley went on to delve into a philosophical analysis of the "evidential weight" of popularity and tradition in determining the "robustness" of beliefs.
Southwest Minnesota State University
philosophy professor Robert Arp
also analyzed the philosophical and cultural aspects of the episode in his book South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today
. Arp analyzed Comedy Central's reaction to the episode itself, in a section of his book entitled "2005-2006: Comedy Central Caves". Arp mentions South Park's usage of the onscreen caption—"This is what Scientologists actually believe."—in the episode, noting that the same device was used in the episode "All About Mormons". In referencing this similar use of the onscreen caption device, Arp seemed to point to an inconsistency in the behavior of Comedy Central relative to the episode. He explained, "By a long shot, this show was more kind to Scientology than was 'All About the Mormons' to Mormonism." He noted Comedy Central had suggested it would not rebroadcast the episode for the second time, though it later announced on July 12, 2006 that it would.
, founded by Lawrence Wollersheim, named the South Park staff their "FACTNet Person(s) of the Year for 2005" for this episode. Robert Arp cited the series winning a Peabody Award
due to its willingness to criticize intolerance in April 2006 as a "special concern for criticizing and countering intolerance", and the notion that "the Church of Scientology suffers from the widely held perceptions that it seeks to silence former members and others who criticize its beliefs and practices", as the motivation behind the episode.
South Park's creators submitted the episode for an Emmy Award
, though Matt Stone admitted that "We did it to be jerks. A 'fuck you' to Comedy Central." To their surprise the episode was nominated on July 6, 2006 in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
category, the show's sixth nomination (one of which they won, for 2005's "Best Friends Forever
.") The Simpsons
episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story
" was the eventual recipient of the award. Los Angeles Times
writer Tom O'Neil theorized that the "Emmy Award Winning Series" plot device used in the October 2007 episode "More Crap
" may have been a reference to the missed Emmy win for "Trapped in the Closet". It was also among Comedy Central's list of "10 South Parks That Changed The World", which started airing at September 24, 2006 in anticipation for the premiere of the second half of South Park's tenth season.
on August 27, 2006, in which Conan O'Brien
is trying to get to the show, but suddenly appears in Stan's room in an animated form. Stan begins yelling at him as he runs into the nearby closet. Immediately following the entrance he exits the closet and says, "There's someone else in there", referring to Cruise, and leaves the door open. Cruise then pops out and closes the door.
There is a scene in the film The Bridge
by Brett Hanover, where two young women looking for a laugh tell a Scientology volunteer they learned about the organization from South Park. The volunteer answers that she hasn't seen the episode in question, and the two women later leave during the middle of an orientation video.
South Park (season 9)
Season nine of the American animated television series South Park began airing on March 9, 2005. This season is home to two of the show's most controversial episodes : "Trapped in the Closet" Season nine of the American animated television series South Park began airing on March 9, 2005. This...
of the animated series South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
, and the 137th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on November 16, 2005. The plot of the episode centers on Stan
Stan Marsh
Stanley Randall "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
as he joins Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
in an attempt to find something "fun and free". After the discovery of his surprisingly high "thetan
Thetan
In Scientology, the concept of thetan is similar to the concept of spirit or soul found in other belief systems. The term is derived from the Greek letter theta, which in Scientology represents "the source of life, or life itself." In Scientology it is believed that it is the Thetan, not the...
levels", he is recognized as the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
, the founder of the church. The title is a reference to the R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
serialized song of the same name
Trapped in the Closet
"Trapped in the Closet" is a series of songs by American contemporary R&B singer R. Kelly. The song set consists of 22 chapters, which were released from 2005 to 2007. The first five chapters of the set are included on his seventh studio album TP.3 Reloaded, with the first chapter being released as...
; a satirized version of R. Kelly appears in the episode.
The episode generated significant controversy. Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
, who is portrayed in the episode, reportedly threatened to back out of his promotional obligations for the Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
film Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible III is a 2006 spy film, the third based on the spy-themed television series Mission: Impossible starring Tom Cruise who reprises his role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt....
if Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
, the owner of both Comedy Central and Paramount, allowed a repeat of the episode to air. Though the episode was originally scheduled for rebroadcast on March 15, 2006, the episode "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls
Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls
"Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls" is the ninth episode of the second season of the animated television series South Park, and the 22nd episode of the series overall. "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls" originally aired in the United States on August 19, 1998 on Comedy Central.-Plot synopsis:Park City, Utah...
" was shown instead. Comedy Central representatives stated this change was made as a tribute to Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
, but South Park creators Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
and Matt Stone
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner and best friend, Trey Parker....
thought otherwise; they issued a satirical statement saying they (Parker and Stone) were "servants of the dark lord Xenu
Xenu
Xenu ,also spelled Xemu, was, according to the founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, the dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs...
". Hayes, the voice of staple character Chef
Chef (South Park)
Jerome "Chef" McElroy is a fictional character on the Comedy Central series South Park. He was voiced by Isaac Hayes. A cafeteria worker at the local elementary school in the town of South Park, Colorado, Chef was generally portrayed as more level-headed than the other adult residents of the town...
, asked to be released from his contract shortly before the start of the tenth season. The reason for his departure, as reported by Matt Stone
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner and best friend, Trey Parker....
, was due to his membership in Scientology and this episode, which Hayes—despite initially supporting the show's satirical take on several talk shows—claimed was very offensive. The episode has since been rebroadcast on Comedy Central multiple times, and the episode is available on the South Park Studios website.
"Trapped in the Closet" was nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in July 2006, in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series which is judged to have been the best...
category. The episode was featured among Comedy Central's list of "10 South Parks That Changed The World", spoofed by Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
in the opening segment of the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards
58th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on Sunday, August 27, 2006 on NBC at 8:00pm ET with Conan O'Brien hosting the show...
, and mentioned in the Scientology critique film The Bridge
The Bridge (2006 drama)
The Bridge is a 2006 feature film, directed by filmmaker Brett Hanover.A fictional story of involvement and disillusionment with Scientology, the film explicitly uses Scientology terms throughout, as well as including clips from actual Scientology promotional and training videos...
. TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
ranked the episode #17 on its list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".
Plot
Not wanting to spend any money and stumped for something to do, Stan takes a free "personality testOxford Capacity Analysis
The Oxford Capacity Analysis , also known as the American Personality Analysis, is a list of questions which is advertised as being a personality test and that is administered for free by the Church of Scientology. The OCA test is offered by the Church of Scientology online, at its local churches,...
" that is being offered by Scientologists on the street. After answering a long questionnaire, Stan is informed that he is extremely depressed and therefore a perfect candidate for Scientology; they offer to help him out for $240. Back at home, Stan asks his parents for money to help with his depression, and his father suggests he use the money he had been saving for a new bike. After he pays, Stan is taken into an auditing
Auditing (Scientology)
Auditing was developed by L. Ron Hubbard, and is described by the Church of Scientology as "spiritual counseling which is the central practice of Dianetics and Scientology".-Description:...
room, and an attendant named Michelle reads his "thetan
Thetan
In Scientology, the concept of thetan is similar to the concept of spirit or soul found in other belief systems. The term is derived from the Greek letter theta, which in Scientology represents "the source of life, or life itself." In Scientology it is believed that it is the Thetan, not the...
levels" using an "E-meter
E-meter
An E-meter is an electronic device used during Dianetics and Scientology auditing. The device is a variation of a Wheatstone bridge, which measures electrical resistance and skin conductance. It is formally known as the Hubbard Electrometer, for the Church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard...
". Stan has a high reading that shocks Michelle and the results are faxed to the Scientology headquarters
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. There, the president of Scientology determines that, because his reading is so high, Stan must be a reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
, Scientology's founder and prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
.
Later that night, a large group of Scientologists, including John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
, have gathered outside to celebrate Hubbard's "second coming". The president of Scientology arrives in a helicopter and talks with Stan's parents; they oppose his being in the group, but the president informs them that, "We're not asking him to join us; we're asking him to lead us." Randy sends Stan to his room where he finds Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
waiting for him. Cruise, thinking Stan is genuinely Hubbard's reincarnation, asks him whether he enjoyed his acting. When Stan tells Cruise that his acting is not as good as others', Tom locks himself in Stan's bedroom closet, believing he is "a failure in the eyes of the prophet". He refuses to come out, despite the attempts of Randy, Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, Travolta, and R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
to persuade him to "come out of the closet
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
"; Travolta and Kelly eventually go into the closet as well.
Downstairs, the Scientology president tries to convince Stan's parents to let their son join them. They want to reveal the great secret of life behind their church to Stan. Randy asks his son if he would like to know this information, and Stan responds with "sure". The president tells him a condensed version of the story of Xenu
Xenu
Xenu ,also spelled Xemu, was, according to the founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, the dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs...
, based directly on the actual Scientology Operating Thetan
Operating Thetan
In Scientology, the state of Operating Thetan is a spiritual state above Clear. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, defined it as "knowing and willing cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time ". According to religious scholar J...
III document, and accompanied by an onscreen caption reading, "This is what Scientologists actually believe." After explaining these beliefs, he tells Stan to continue writing where "L. Ron" left off. Stan begins writing and he shows his writings to the Scientology president, who approves of most of his work; but when Stan says, "to really be a church, they can't charge money to help", the president reveals to Stan that the church is in reality a money making scam
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
.
Outside the house, the president introduces Stan to his followers, to whom he will read his new doctrine
Doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
. However, instead of presenting it to them, Stan states that he is actually not the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard, and that: "Scientology is just a big fat global scam." His followers grow angry, and threaten to sue him. Tom Cruise leaves Stan's closet and appears, threatening to sue Stan as well. Stan dares them to do so, and the episode ends with the credits listing only "John Smith" and "Jane Smith", a reference to Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology's reputations for litigiousness
Scientology and the legal system
The Church of Scientology has been involved in court disputes in several countries. In some cases, when the Church has initiated the dispute, question has been raised as to its motives. The Church says that its use of the legal system is necessary to protect its intellectual property and its right...
.
Production
South Park had previously parodied Scientology in a spoof at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards2000 MTV Movie Awards
The 2000 MTV Movie Awards were hosted by Sarah Jessica Parker. In conjunction with the success of a certain HBO Original Series at the time, the awards show presented a parody of Sex and the City and The Matrix during the program's opening...
. The MTV short was entitled "The Gauntlet" and included "John Travolta and the Church of Scientology" arriving in a spaceship to defeat Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
(as a Gladiator
Gladiator (2000 film)
Gladiator is a 2000 historical epic film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays the loyal Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed...
) and attempt to recruit the boys into Scientology. Travolta, along with his fellow Scientologists, was depicted as a Psychlo, as he appeared in the film Battlefield Earth
Battlefield Earth (film)
Battlefield Earth is a 2000 American science fiction film adapted from L. Ron Hubbard's novel of the same name. It was directed by Roger Christian, and stars John Travolta, Forest Whitaker, and Barry Pepper...
. They had also made fun of Scientology in an earlier episode, entitled "Super Best Friends
Super Best Friends
"Super Best Friends" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 68th episode of the series overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on July 4, 2001. The episode depicts several religious figures, including Muhammad,...
", in which David Blaine
David Blaine
David Blaine is an American illusionist and endurance artist. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance, and has made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. He has set and broken several world records...
formed his own cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
, called "Blaintology". Parker and Stone have acknowledged that this is meant to be a reference to Scientology.
Parker stated that Isaac Hayes' membership had previously kept the show's creators from writing a full-episode which parodies Scientology. However, the decision to ultimately produce a South Park episode satirizing Scientology was partially inspired by the friendship the show's creators have with Penn Jillette
Penn Jillette
Penn Fraser Jillette is an American magician, comedian, illusionist, juggler, bassist and a best-selling author known for his work with fellow illusionist Teller in the team Penn & Teller, and advocacy of atheism, libertarian philosophy, free-market economics, and scientific skepticism.-Early...
. Jillette was originally planning to do an episode of Bullshit! based on Scientology, but Showtime prohibited him from doing so to avoid the possibility of legal action from the Church of Scientology. Parker commented, "We're going, That's fucked up. And hearing other people say, 'You can't do that,' - you can only say 'You can't do that' so many times to Matt and me before we're gonna do it. Finally, we just had to tell Isaac, 'Dude, we totally love working with you, and this is nothing personal, it's just we're South Park, and if we don't do this, we're belittling everything else we've ripped on.
Although some questions were raised prior to the episode's screening about whether it was wise to take swipes at Cruise and Scientology, Comedy Central declared that it supported Stone and Parker. A Comedy Central spokesman told Radar magazine
Radar (magazine)
RadarOnline is an American online publication. It started as a magazine first printed in 2003 as a test issue, relaunched twice in 2005 and 2006, and ceased publication in 2008. The magazine published articles on entertainment, fashion, politics, and human interest...
in November 2005 that "they are free, and have been, to satirize anybody and anything they want to. They've made fun of MTV, they've made fun of Viacom, they've made fun of Comedy Central, and we've never interfered with them."
During production on the episode, investigative journalist
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
Mark Ebner
Mark Ebner
Mark Charles Ebner is an American investigative journalist and the host of TruTV's Rich and Reckless. Ebner writes primarily about issues in the Los Angeles area, including pit bull fighting in South Central, Scientology, and celebrity scandal. He has covered celebrity culture for Spy, Rolling...
served as a consultant to Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Ebner had previously authored The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
best seller
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
Hollywood, Interrupted
Hollywood, Interrupted
Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon - The Case Against Celebrity is the title of a book and website authored by Mark Ebner, with co-author Andrew Breitbart. The book was published in 2004 by John Wiley and Sons. The writing focuses primarily on what Ebner sees as the disconnected,...
, which includes an analysis of the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
and its effects on the culture in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
, and has a chapter on Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
and John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
's relationship to Scientology. On the official Comedy Central website for the South Park episode, it is asserted that the section of "Trapped in the Closet" that explains Scientology was not exaggerated: "Nothing about what you see here is exaggerated in the slightest. Seriously." The title is a reference to the R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
song of the same name
Trapped in the Closet
"Trapped in the Closet" is a series of songs by American contemporary R&B singer R. Kelly. The song set consists of 22 chapters, which were released from 2005 to 2007. The first five chapters of the set are included on his seventh studio album TP.3 Reloaded, with the first chapter being released as...
, and a depiction of R. Kelly appears in the episode to sing a parody of it.
Isaac Hayes' departure
On March 13, 2006, Hayes announced that he was quitting the show because of the series' treatment of religion saying, "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins. Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored. As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices." The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
observed that Hayes did not specifically mention Scientology in his statement. Later in an interview on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight is an American entertainment news program on HLN .Showbiz Tonight is hosted by A.J. Hammer at CNN New York. The show reports and debates celebrity entertainment news stories and controversies, along with social networking segments involving viewer interaction via social networks and...
, Hayes added he did not see the episode itself, but was told about it. In a separate interview, he reportedly said regarding Parker and Stone, "Guys, you have it all wrong. We're not like that. I know that's your thing, but get your information correct, because somebody might believe that shit, you know? But I understand what they're doing. I told them to take a couple of Scientology courses, and understand what we do. [Laughs]."
Responding to Hayes' departure, Stone asserted that "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem—and he's cashed plenty of checks—with our show making fun of Christians." According to Stone, neither he nor Trey Parker had "heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin." Stone commented that "In 10 years and over 150 episodes of South Park, Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons and Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show. To bring the civil rights struggle into this is just a non sequitur. Of course we will release Isaac from his contract and we wish him well." According to a later commentary by Stone, prior to the episode's screening Hayes had asked the South Park creators to have Comedy Central pull the episode before it aired and not include it in the series DVD, which they refused.
There were many conflicting stories as to the exact nature of Hayes' departure. Additional reasons given by Hayes ten months after the departure include "They didn't pay me enough," and "They weren't that nice." In late 2007, reports emerged claiming that Hayes was in no condition to stay, because of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
he suffered in January. According to a Fox News article, Hayes' agent Christina Kimball, herself a devout Scientologist, was the source of the statements that Hayes quit South Park. Stone lent support to this view in a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, commenting that "There are reports that Isaac had a stroke and Scientology quit the show for him, and I believe it... It was a brutal, up-close, personal thing with Isaac. If you look at the timeline, something doesn't add up." Due to the absence of Hayes, Chef was voiced in "The Return of Chef
The Return of Chef
"The Return of Chef" is the first episode of the tenth season of the animated television series South Park, and the 140th episode overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 22, 2006. It was advertised as the tenth season premiere. The episode was the first after the...
" using pre-recorded snippets of dialog from previous episodes. The character was written out of the series by being struck by lightning, burned, impaled, shot, and mauled at the end of the episode.
Tom Cruise parody
The creators used the ambiguity of "coming out of the closetComing out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
", having Tom Cruise literally refusing to come out of Stan's closet, in a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of rumors involving Cruise. Cruise has a documented history of litigation against others involving rumors as to his sexuality, and some speculated whether Cruise could sue South Park. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
asked in December 2005 whether South Park was "cruisin' for a bruisin'" and wondered "how that sort of Cruise-bashing is going to go over with Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone's new bosses: Paramount Pictures just inked the dudes to a three-year deal. Other people with Paramount deals? Oh, just, you know, Tom Cruise. Should be one hell of a studio Christmas party".
Concerns over possible litigation were raised in other countries where South Park is syndicated. The episode's planned screening on the UK's Paramount Comedy 1
Comedy Central (UK)
Comedy Central in the United Kingdom and Ireland is a localised version of Comedy Central which first began in the United States in the 1990s. The television channel is available through the Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV in the United Kingdom, Sky Ireland, UPC Ireland and Magnet Networks in the...
channel was canceled for fear that Cruise would sue. In Australia, SBS TV
SBS TV
SBS One is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally...
screened the episode in late February, a spokesman telling Australian The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
that "We haven't received any legal threats so we're going to publish and be damned."
Closetgate
Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls
"Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls" is the ninth episode of the second season of the animated television series South Park, and the 22nd episode of the series overall. "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls" originally aired in the United States on August 19, 1998 on Comedy Central.-Plot synopsis:Park City, Utah...
". Representatives of Comedy Central insist that the episode was changed as a tribute to Isaac Hayes following his departure from the show two days earlier. The following day, the Hollywoodinterrupted.com blog alleged that Comedy Central parent Viacom canceled the rebroadcast due to threats of Cruise to boycott the publicity tour of his upcoming film Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible III is a 2006 spy film, the third based on the spy-themed television series Mission: Impossible starring Tom Cruise who reprises his role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt....
. These assertions were soon also reported by E! News
E! News
E! News, previously known as E! News Daily and E! News Live, is a nightly entertainment newsmagazine program airing on E!: Entertainment Television. The program debuted on September 1, 1991 and talks about Hollywood celebrities and gossip...
and American Morning
American Morning
American Morning is the morning television show on CNN. It premiered in 2001.-About the show:American Morning is hosted by Ashleigh Banfield, Zoraida Sambolin & Soledad O'Brien. Others who appear regularly are Rob Marciano with the weather, Sunny Hostin on legal news, and CNN senior medical...
. Fox News
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
attributed threats from Tom Cruise, stating, "to back out of his Mission: Impossible III promotional duties if Viacom didn't pull a repeat of the episode", as evidence of "bad blood" between Cruise and Viacom (which also owns Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, the distributor of MI:III). CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's The Situation Room
The Situation Room
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer is an afternoon/early evening newscast on CNN and CNN International hosted by Wolf Blitzer that first aired on August 8, 2005. The show replaces three politics and hard news programs: Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics, Crossfire and Wolf Blitzer Reports.At first,...
with Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
also cited "industry sources" who believed the episode was pulled "because the network and Tom Cruise's current movie studio are both owned by the same corporation." The New York Post noted that Cruise had "a history of playing hardball", alleging that he had been responsible for having a sex scene featuring his then-fiancée Katie Holmes
Katie Holmes
Katherine Noelle "Katie" Holmes is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. Her movie roles have included the blockbuster Batman Begins along with art house films such as The Ice Storm and thrillers...
removed from the film Thank You for Smoking prior to its release.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
reported that South Park fans "struck back", in March 2006, and threatened to boycott Mission: Impossible III until Comedy Central put "Trapped in the Closet" back on its schedule. Melissa McNamara of CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
later questioned whether this boycott hurt the Mission: Impossible III box office debut. The South Park creators did not comment directly on Comedy Central's decision to pull the episode, reportedly because they had been told not to discuss the matter to avoid embarrassing Cruise. Instead, they issued a statement to Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
on March 17, 2006, signing the statement, "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu
Xenu
Xenu ,also spelled Xemu, was, according to the founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, the dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs...
".
The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
dubbed the controversy surrounding the episode's rebroadcast "Closetgate". The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
later cited the Los Angeles Times, noting that the controversy generated positive publicity for the show's creators: "For Stone and Parker, Closetgate will be the gift that keeps on giving." "Closetgate" has since been used to refer to the "brouhaha" surrounding Isaac Hayes' departure and rebroadcasts of the episode, by other sources including Yahoo! Movies
Yahoo! Movies
Yahoo! Movies , provided by the Yahoo! network, is home to a large collection of information on movies, past and new releases, trailers and clips, box office information, and showtimes and movie theater information. Yahoo! Movies also includes red carpet photos, actor galleries, and production...
, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
, the Herald-Sun, Thoralf Fagertun of the University of Tromsø
University of Tromsø
The University of Tromsø is the world's northernmost university. Located in the city of Tromsø, Norway, it was established in 1968, and opened in 1972. It is one of eight universities in Norway. The University of Tromsø is the largest research and educational institution in northern Norway...
, and the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
.
Cruise's representative responded to the controversy shortly after it broke, telling the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
that the allegations of Cruise's involvement were "not true" and that "he never said that". According to The Washington Post, Cruise's publicist asserted that "Tom had nothing to do with this matter. He's been promoting 'Mission: Impossible III' for the last six months. We have no clue where this came from." Cruise himself addressed the allegations in an interview on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Primetime in mid-April. When asked about whether he had been involved with stopping the rebroadcast on Comedy Central, Cruise stated, "First of all, could you ever imagine sitting down with anyone? I would never sit down with someone and question them on their beliefs. Here's the thing: I'm really not even going to dignify this. I honestly didn't really even know about it. I'm working, making my movie, I've got my family. I'm busy. I don't spend my days going, 'What are people saying about me?'" A representative of Cruise had also denied any involvement of Cruise with the issue, specifically responding to allegations of Cruise's reputed corporate power play.
In April 2006, TelevisionWeek reported that fans had posted the episode in multiple locations on the internet. At that time, the episode had been viewed over 700,000 times on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, and an online petition to re-air the episode had garnered 5,000 signatures. TelevisionWeek noted that Comedy Central "looked the other way at the online proliferation" of "Trapped in the Closet". A spokesman for MTV Networks
MTV Networks
MTV Networks is a division of media conglomerate Viacom that oversees the operations of many television channels and Internet brands, including the original MTV channel in the United States...
, owner of Comedy Central, confirmed they had not asked YouTube to pull the episode from their site. The Situation Room also noted that clips from the episode were still available on Comedy Central's web site. In May 2006, "Trapped in the Closet" was shown in London, at the National Film Theatre
BFI Southbank
BFI Southbank is the leading repertory cinema in the UK specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films and is operated by the British Film Institute.-History:...
. The free screening was followed by a discussion with Parker and Stone, who said the screening was a "display of free speech". Free copies of the episode were given out to attendees after the screening.
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
and did so again on July 23 at 11:00pm Eastern Time and on September 24 at 10:00 PM Eastern time. Matt Stone stated "If they hadn't put this episode back on the air, we'd have had serious issues, and we wouldn't be doing anything else with them." After the episode was scheduled to be rebroadcast, Trey Parker and Matt Stone were interviewed on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight is an American entertainment news program on HLN .Showbiz Tonight is hosted by A.J. Hammer at CNN New York. The show reports and debates celebrity entertainment news stories and controversies, along with social networking segments involving viewer interaction via social networks and...
, where they stated that all of the controversy increased publicity for the episode. Parker was quoted: "But it's really like a publicist couldn't have orchestrated this any better for us. You know what I mean? It's like it's been phenomenal. Tom Cruise has done more for South Park than anyone I think in the world."
A few references have been made by the show and Comedy Central to Scientology as an aftermath of the controversy. On August 1, 2006, Comedy Central placed an advertisement in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
showing the South Park stars against a background of L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology Celebrity Center
Celebrity Centre
Celebrity Centres are Church of Scientology facilities that are open to the public but serve mostly artists and celebrities and other "professionals, leaders and promising new-comers in the fields of the arts, sports, management and government", as "those are the people who are sculpting the...
, with the headline, "C'mon Jews, show them who really runs Hollywood." Although often misunderstood by the public to parody the Mel Gibson DUI incident, the advertisement actually congratulates South Park on gaining an Emmy nomination for "Trapped in the Closet" and satirizes the cancellation of the episode's rebroadcast in March.
The Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
cover article Still Sick, Still Wrong, celebrating the show's anniversary, also referred to the controversy. The article depicted Stone and Parker spray painting graffiti on the church's Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
headquarters sign, adding "Is dum" to the Scientology logo and a "Hi Tom" message with an accompanying depiction of Cartman's head.
Reception
In a review of South Park: The Complete Ninth Season, The Denver PostThe Denver Post
-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...
stated the jokes about Tom Cruise "work splendidly and reveal their depth on repeated viewings, much like the show in general." IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
stated that "Perhaps the largest weakness of this season is that the most notorious episodes Best Friends Forever
Best Friends Forever
"Best Friends Forever" is the fourth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series series South Park. It was written and directed by co-creator Trey Parker and first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 30, 2005....
and Trapped in the Closet just don't carry the eye-popping impact that they did when they were ripped from the headlines," giving the DVD a rating of 7.0. The San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
wrote that Matt Stone and Trey Parker "probably hit their zenith when they made fun of Tom Cruise and Scientology". An article in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote that South Park "infamously satirized" texts by L. Ron Hubbard "available only to Operating Thetans". TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
ranked the episode #17 on its 2009 list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".
Analysis
An article in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion referred to the episode as a "scathing cartoon parody" of the Church of Scientology. University of DelawareUniversity of Delaware
The university is organized into seven colleges:* College of Agriculture and Natural Resources* College of Arts and Sciences* Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics* College of Earth, Ocean and Environment* College of Education and Human Development...
philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
professor Richard Hanley
Richard Hanley
Richard Hanley was born in Zambia and later moved to Australia as a small child. He studied at the University of Sydney, and completed his PhD at University of Maryland. He is now an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Delaware. Philosophically, he is a perdurantist following in...
analyzed the mythology of Scientology, as it relates to the episode "Trapped in the Closet", in his 2007 book South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating
South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating
South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating is a non-fiction book analyzing the philosophy and popular culture effects of South Park, published by Open Court...
. Hanley called the Xenu story
Xenu
Xenu ,also spelled Xemu, was, according to the founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, the dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs...
, as presented in the episode, "utterly ridiculous". He compared Scientology's mythology to Christianity's Virgin birth and the transubstantiation
Transubstantiation
In Roman Catholic theology, transubstantiation means the change, in the Eucharist, of the substance of wheat bread and grape wine into the substance of the Body and Blood, respectively, of Jesus, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.The Eastern Orthodox...
, stating, "Let's be honest, these beliefs are just as ridiculous as those of Scientology." Hanley went on to delve into a philosophical analysis of the "evidential weight" of popularity and tradition in determining the "robustness" of beliefs.
Southwest Minnesota State University
Southwest Minnesota State University
Southwest Minnesota State University is a public, four-year university that is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. It is located in Marshall, Minnesota, United States, a city of 13,000 people. The school has a full-time enrollment of approximately 3,500 students and...
philosophy professor Robert Arp
Robert Arp
Robert Arp is a philosopher and ontologist, and is known for his work in ontology , philosophy of biology, evolutionary psychology, and philosophy and popular culture...
also analyzed the philosophical and cultural aspects of the episode in his book South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today
South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today
South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today is the first non-fiction book in Blackwell Publishing Company’s Philosophy & Pop Culture series and is edited by philosopher and ontologist, Robert Arp, at the time assistant professor of philosophy at Southwest Minnesota State University...
. Arp analyzed Comedy Central's reaction to the episode itself, in a section of his book entitled "2005-2006: Comedy Central Caves". Arp mentions South Park's usage of the onscreen caption—"This is what Scientologists actually believe."—in the episode, noting that the same device was used in the episode "All About Mormons". In referencing this similar use of the onscreen caption device, Arp seemed to point to an inconsistency in the behavior of Comedy Central relative to the episode. He explained, "By a long shot, this show was more kind to Scientology than was 'All About the Mormons' to Mormonism." He noted Comedy Central had suggested it would not rebroadcast the episode for the second time, though it later announced on July 12, 2006 that it would.
Awards
The organization Fight Against Coercive Tactics NetworkFight Against Coercive Tactics Network
Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network, also known as FACTNet, co-founded by Robert Penny and Lawrence Wollersheim, is a Colorado-based organization committed to educating and facilitating communication about destructive mind control...
, founded by Lawrence Wollersheim, named the South Park staff their "FACTNet Person(s) of the Year for 2005" for this episode. Robert Arp cited the series winning a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
due to its willingness to criticize intolerance in April 2006 as a "special concern for criticizing and countering intolerance", and the notion that "the Church of Scientology suffers from the widely held perceptions that it seeks to silence former members and others who criticize its beliefs and practices", as the motivation behind the episode.
South Park's creators submitted the episode for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
, though Matt Stone admitted that "We did it to be jerks. A 'fuck you' to Comedy Central." To their surprise the episode was nominated on July 6, 2006 in the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series which is judged to have been the best...
category, the show's sixth nomination (one of which they won, for 2005's "Best Friends Forever
Best Friends Forever
"Best Friends Forever" is the fourth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series series South Park. It was written and directed by co-creator Trey Parker and first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 30, 2005....
.") The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story
The Seemingly Never-Ending Story
"The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" is the 13th episode of The Simpsons 17th season. It originally aired in the United States on March 12, 2006.-Plot:...
" was the eventual recipient of the award. Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
writer Tom O'Neil theorized that the "Emmy Award Winning Series" plot device used in the October 2007 episode "More Crap
More Crap
"More Crap" is the 9th episode of the eleventh season of the animated television series South Park. It was originally broadcast on Comedy Central in the United State on October 10, 2007, and is rated TV-MA...
" may have been a reference to the missed Emmy win for "Trapped in the Closet". It was also among Comedy Central's list of "10 South Parks That Changed The World", which started airing at September 24, 2006 in anticipation for the premiere of the second half of South Park's tenth season.
Legacy
The scene where Cruise enters the closet is referenced in the South Park segment of the opening of the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards58th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on Sunday, August 27, 2006 on NBC at 8:00pm ET with Conan O'Brien hosting the show...
on August 27, 2006, in which Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
is trying to get to the show, but suddenly appears in Stan's room in an animated form. Stan begins yelling at him as he runs into the nearby closet. Immediately following the entrance he exits the closet and says, "There's someone else in there", referring to Cruise, and leaves the door open. Cruise then pops out and closes the door.
There is a scene in the film The Bridge
The Bridge (2006 drama)
The Bridge is a 2006 feature film, directed by filmmaker Brett Hanover.A fictional story of involvement and disillusionment with Scientology, the film explicitly uses Scientology terms throughout, as well as including clips from actual Scientology promotional and training videos...
by Brett Hanover, where two young women looking for a laugh tell a Scientology volunteer they learned about the organization from South Park. The volunteer answers that she hasn't seen the episode in question, and the two women later leave during the middle of an orientation video.
See also
- "The Return of ChefThe Return of Chef"The Return of Chef" is the first episode of the tenth season of the animated television series South Park, and the 140th episode overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 22, 2006. It was advertised as the tenth season premiere. The episode was the first after the...
" - Scientology in popular culture
- South Park controversiesSouth Park controversiesSouth Park is an American animated sitcom. Its frequent depiction of taboo subject matter, unusual humor and portrayal of religion for comic effect has generated controversy and debate throughout the world over the course of its 14-year run...
External links
- "Trapped in the Closet" Full episode at South Park Studios
- "Trapped in the Closet" Episode guide at South Park Studios
- Reviews, archived articles, IGNIGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
- Off-screen antics cost Cruise, Herald Sun, gallery of controversy involving Tom Cruise, picture 2 discusses "Closetgate"