201 (South Park)

"201"
South Park episode
Kyle Broflovski gives a speech about the effectiveness of threats and violence. In the original broadcast and DVD release, the speech is entirely censored with a continuous audio bleep, and Muhammad is replaced by a "CENSORED" bar. Comedy Central was responsible for censoring the audio, drawing massive criticism from audiences, who felt the network did so in response to Islamic terrorist threats.
Episode no.	Season 14 Episode 6
Directed by	Trey Parker
Written by	Trey Parker
Featured music	"Time of the Season" by The Zombies
Production code	1406
Original air date	April 21, 2010 (2010-04-21)
Episode chronology
← Previous "200" Next → "Crippled Summer"
South Park season 14
List of episodes

"201" is the sixth episode of the fourteenth season of South Park, and the 201st overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 21, 2010. The episode continued multiple storylines from the previous episode, "200", in which a group of angry celebrities demand South Park produce Muhammad. In "201", a superhero-like group of religious figures (The Super Best Friends) team up to save South Park from the celebrities and their monster Mecha-Streisand, while Eric Cartman learns the true identity of his father.

The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker. Like "200", it alludes to several past storylines and controversies from previous South Park episodes, especially Comedy Central's refusal to show images of Muhammad on the network following controversies in 2005 and 2007 when cartoons depicting Muhammad ran in European newspapers, resulting in riots and threats. Prior to the broadcast of "201", the radical Muslim organization Revolution Muslim posted a warning on their website that Parker and Stone risked being murdered for their depiction of Muhammad. Comedy Central modified Parker and Stone's version of the episode, bleeping all references to Muhammad—to the effect of disruptively obscuring the entire two-minute moral conclusion of the story. Nevertheless, both "200" and "201" were nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2010.^[1]

The censorship drew strong criticism of Comedy Central. Critics said that the network's action would encourage further threats from radical groups. "201" was not shown in repeats, has not been made available on the South Park website, and has not been shown in Sweden, Hungary, or The Netherlands. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by 3.5 million viewers, making it the most watched cable television program of the night.

On January 31, 2014, the original, uncensored version of "201" was leaked when it was pulled from the South Park Studios servers and was posted online in its entirety without approval by Comedy Central.^[2]