Even before it debuted, South Park was controversial. In the mid-1990s, Matt Stone and Trey Parker put together a pair of Christmas-themed animated shorts full of violence and foul language. A second short, "The Spirit of Christmas" from 1995, shows Jesus Christ and Santa Claus in a savage fight. Several children were killed in the melee. That short was distributed on VHS tapes by several Hollywood celebrities, most notably George Clooney, and Parker and Stone suddenly got the ear of producers and troublemakers.

"South Park" debuted in 1997 and kept all the little jokes and shocking humor as a holiday special. It was an instant hit, garnering attention for its bold attitude and edgy comedy. Many liked the mix of shock humor with crude animation, giving South Park an anarchic, punk rock feel. For its first few seasons, South Park was beloved by both bosses and intellectuals.

Against all odds, South Park has been on the air for 25 years. And while Stone and Parker have grown and changed as comedians, they've consistently tried to keep South Park as confronting and shocking as ever. Just when you think they've blown the lid on the last possible sensitive topic, they push the envelope even further.

Often, the jokes land, no matter how edgy. Sometimes, however, Stone and Parker go too far. South Park is currently available on Max (although it's moving to Paramount+ soon) and five of the show's infamous episodes have been banned from the platform. The reasons for the ban on the five episodes are varied, but as of this writing, they should be watched other than streaming. Below are the five episodes in question.

One can immediately see why some people might object to the episode "Super Best Friends" (July 4, 2001). In it, the real-life magician David Blaine appears in South Park and dazzles all the locals with his magic tricks. Many begin to believe that David Blaine is actually magical and an intense cult quickly surrounds him. Jesus Christ, a resident of South Park, is angry that Blaine is attracting believers despite being an obvious fraud. Followers call themselves "Blaintologists," in a riff on Scientologists.

Jesus, in comic book fashion, decides to assemble a super-team of superpowered compatriots. The team consists of Krishna, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Muhammad, Moses, Joseph Smith and, uh, Sea Man, an underwater superhero who looks a lot like Aquaman. They learn that David Blaine is aiming to stage a mass suicide in Washington, and it will be up to the Super Best Friends to stop him. The episode ends with Blaine animating the lincoln memorialmaking a kaiju abraham lincoln. In order to kill Lincoln, the Super BFFs make a giant animated John Wilkes Booth robot. Obviously, this is the height of good taste.

The main reason why "Super BFFs" was banned is because of its portrayal of Muhammad. Islam, to remind readers, does not believe in icons (according to hadith texts) and it is considered blasphemous to depict Muhammad in any form. Some may remember the controversy in 2005 when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons of Muhammad, which caused a firestorm of controversy.

"Super BFFs" received some press when it aired, but became a target when later episodes of "South Park," also featuring Muhammad, began airing.

Cartoon Wars, Part I (April 5, 2006) was also banned by Max due to a Muhammad-based controversy, this time made after the Jyllands-Posten scandal. In July 2001, Parker and Stone were not widely criticized for their portrayal of Muhammad. In the post-9/11 world, however, there has been a heightened sensitivity to anti-Islamic sentiment, and the American public has begun to pay more attention to how Muslims around the world are treated. Stone and Parker, being nasty nihilists, decided to satirize the phenomenon by imagining a fake episode of Seth MacFarlane's "Family Man" in which Muhammad appeared in the comedy aside.

The entire town of South Park is terrified that Fox's use of Muhammad on a TV show will provoke violent retaliation, and everyone will undergo Muslim sensitivity training. No one wants to be killed for seeing Muhammad and, in a very unsubtle act, literally bury their heads in the sand. Cartman, meanwhile, demands that Kyle go to Hollywood to confront the creators of "Family Guy" (also noted for their shocking humor) for their writing and insensitivity towards the Muslim community. This is a rare show of compassion from the evil Cartman, and Kyle senses that something else is going on.

In the original draft of Cartoon Wars, Part I, Muhammad did appear on screen, but Comedy Central insisted that the character be censored. This angered Stone and Parker, who felt their jokes about other religions were being broadcast and were confused as to why Islam should be spared satire. In a strange way, Cartoon Wars, Part I tells the story of its own creation.

Of course, there's a plot twist in "Cartoon Wars, Part II" (April 12, 2006). Cartman reveals in the second part of the episode that he was not at all concerned about the plight of Muslims, censorship or sensitivity. What he found distasteful was that "Family Guy" just seemed to have his own personal sense of humor. Now he resented being accused of taking "Family Guy" as inspiration when he made jokes.

The episode's focus shifts from a satire on censorship to a deliberate takedown of Seth MacFarlane's "Family Man." Trey Parker and Matt Stone went for the record with how lazy they feel the show is, accusing MacFarlane of making pointless pop culture references instead of writing character-driven stories. "Cartoon Wars, Part II" takes Kyle behind the scenes of "Family Guy" only to discover that the writers are all trained beanbags who pick random pop culture references from a giant store of decorated beach balls. After learning this, Kyle and Cartman team up to take down the manatees.

To complete the story of Muhammad, Parker and Stone introduced the real Ayman al-Zawahiri who threatened Americans with the fiercest retaliation for their portrayal of Muhammad: a satirical cartoon by George W. Bush. Apparently, Parker and Stone sensed that the Jyllands-Posten scandal was a tempest in a teapot. Since the episode still dealt with graven images of the prophet, it too is banned by Max.

For their 200th episode, Parker and Stone wanted to do something special. For many years South Park has been on the air, they have mercilessly mocked every possible celebrity. For Stone and Parker, the very idea of ​​celebrity is bad and that famous people mistakenly assume that their fame should give them a louder voice in public discourse. In "200" (April 14, 2010), hundreds of celebrities finally come together to sue the city of South Park for mercilessly mocking them. The celebrities are led by Tom Cruise. They include Al Gore, Bono, Mel Gibson, Rob Reiner, Steven Spielberg and many others who have appeared on South Park in the past.

The twist that got the episode banned: Celebrities demand either an unsustainable amount of money ... or a face-to-face meeting with the Prophet Muhammad.

Celebrities know that the citizens of South Park know the members of Super Best Friends and want to see Muhammad in person; Tom Cruise claims to be a fan. Kyle and Stan are talking super best friends, and Muhammad agrees to go with them. This time, however, he remains hidden in the back of the U-Haul throughout the episode. There's a scene where someone draws a picture of Muhammad, but it's just a stick man. That too seems to have been enough to catch the attention of Comedy Central's censors.

Parker and Stone clearly sensed that four years after Cartoon Wars, the controversy might be over, but it wasn't. Parker and Stone were still frustrated by the controversy; why could they show buddha snorting cocaine in front of kids but not even show muhammad on screen?

Thanks to Max's ban, they still aren't.

In "200", it was revealed that the celebrities don't want to meet Muhammad just because they are fans, but because he exudes a "goo", which the celebrities can use to give them magical powers. "201" (21.04.2010) explodes into absurdity. Krishna takes on the form of Neil Diamond and performs a duet with a mechanical kayu version of Barbra Streisand. A separatist movement of gingers takes South Park hostage with bombs. Kyle, Stan, Kenny and Cartman have to protect Muhammad, who is covered in "censored" tape throughout the episode. There is also a subplot involving Mitch Connor, a living ghost who possesses Cartman's hand and the true identity of his father. In the Oedipal twist, it is revealed Cartman killed his father and fed him to his half-brother.

At the end of the episode, Kyle, Jesus Christ, and Santa Claus all give an impassioned speech about censorship and freedom of expression ... and the intimidation that follows. The speech brings the two-part episode to a darkly thematic conclusion. In an ironic twist, when "201" aired, Comedy Central censored all speech. Here it is in print:

"I learned something today. Through this whole ordeal, we all wanted to show things we weren't allowed to show, but it wasn't because of some magic! Violence is apparently the only real force, if there's one thing we've all learned it's that terrorizing people works. (...) All you have to do is instill fear and be willing to hurt people and you can get whatever you want! The only true power... is violence!”

The episode aired only once. It's not Max's. Indeed, "Super Best Friends" was banned as a side effect of "201". Only bootlegs can be found on the internet.