What has happened to Chef?

Faithful readers of this blog may have noticed that I, right-wing Christian neo-con, am a fan of the TV show South Park. As others have noted, the show has been in the news. First, Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef, quit the show, apparently for its rough treatment of Scientology, of which he is apparently an adherent.

Second, Comedy Central pulled a scheduled rerun of the offending show (which included, among other things, scenes in which Nicole Kidman, John Travolta and others plead with Tom Cruise to "come out of the closet" in which he has, literally, locked himself) because of pressure from Scientologist Cruise who is reported to have threatened to suspend promotion for the upcoming movie Mission Impossible 3.

The shows creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker responded with a press release blasting Scientology that reads more like the fist-shaking rant of a foiled super hero.

For the record, I don't believe the Cruise story. I think it is a publicity stunt.

But now the 10th season is about to begin (nice coincidence) and the first episode will be ... The Return of Chef." It turns out that the kids will notice there is something wrong with Chef, that he is getting into trouble and that they need to save him. (A rescue which will be followed by a speech beginning "You know, I learned something today ....")

So what will be wrong with Chef.

It could be a Scientology thing. Maybe something about a Thetan trapped in his body, but that's too obvious and I don't know what a Thetan is.

My guess is that it has something to do with his voice. It'll be obvious to viewers (he'll sound stereotypically white or gay) but no one in town will notice it, while he engages in behavior consistent with the stereotype.

Or he'll become easily offended by things and cause all sorts of trouble. In the end, he'll give a speech in which he'll say, somehow, that people who are easily offended are "nothing, but a bunch of douches, children."

We'll see.