Trapped in the Closet (South Park)

"Trapped in the Closet" is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on November 16, 2005. The plot of the episode centers on the South Park character Stan Marsh, 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 the founder of the church, L. Ron Hubbard.

Tom Cruise, who is featured in the episode, reportedly threatened "to back out of his Mission: Impossible III promotional duties if Viacom didn’t pull a repeat of the episode." 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. Stone and Parker issued a satirical statement saying they were "servants of the dark lord Xenu". Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef, quit the show shortly before the start of the tenth season. The reason for his departure, as reported by Matt Stone, was due to his faith in Scientology and this episode, which — despite initially supporting the show's satirical take on several talk shows — he claimed to feel was very offensive. The episode has since been rebroadcast on Comedy Central multiple times, and clips of the episode are available on the Comedy Central Web site.

"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 in July 2006, but lost to The Simpsons episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story." 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.

Plot
Stan takes a "personality test" 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 reads his "thetan levels" using an "E-meter", Michelle is shocked by the high reading and Stan's 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 Stan's "second coming". The President of Scientology arrives in a helicopter and talks with Stan's parents. Stan's parents 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 Randy, Nicole Kidman, John Travolta and R. Kelly's attempts to persuade him to come out of the closet.

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 a "sure". The president tells him a condensed version of the story of Xenu, based directly on the actual Scientology OT 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 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 reveals 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.

Isaac Hayes' departure
Isaac Hayes, who played "Chef" from South Park.On March 13, 2006, Hayes announced that he was quitting the show because of the series' treatment of religion, though he didn't specifically mention Scientology in his statement. In an interview on CNN's Showbiz Tonight, he added he didn't see the episode itself, but was told about it.He reportedly said to 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 stated "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 [...] He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and, to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin." However, recent reports say 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.

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 a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, Stone stated, "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 culled from previous episodes, and was written out of the series by the episode's ending.


Tom Cruise parody
The creators used the ambiguity of "coming out of the closet", having Tom Cruise literally refusing to come out, in a parody of rumors involving Cruise. In an article in FindLaw, Julie Hilden noted Cruise's history of litigation against others involving homosexual rumors, and analyzed whether Cruise could sue South Park.

"Closetgate"
Trey Parker, one of South Park's co-creators.This episode was scheduled to rebroadcast on March 15, 2006 on Comedy Central, but the airing 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. The episode did not broadcast on Paramount Comedy 1 either, although every other episode of the season has been. Reportedly, the channel directors did not air it to avoid a possible lawsuit against the channel by Cruise.

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 news sources including the Chicago Sun-Times.

While the South Park creators did not comment directly on Comedy Central's decision to pull the episode, they issued a statement to Daily Variety on March 17, 2006 indicating the battle is not over, signing the statement, "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing [sic] our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

"C'mon Jews, show them who really runs Hollywood" - Comedy Central advertisement, Variety, August 1, 2006, A blog entry of Hollywoodinterrupted.com in March alleged that Comedy Central parent Viacom canceled the rebroadcast due to threats of Cruise to abstain from the Mission: Impossible III publicity circle. 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 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.

When asked in ABC's Primetime about his involvement with stopping the episode 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 seven hundred thousand times on YouTube, and an online petition to re-air the episode had garnered five thousand 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, England, at the National Film Theatre. The free screening was followed by a discussion with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who said the screening was a "display of free speech." Free copies of the episode were given out to attendees after the screening. Complaints from Tom Cruise had previously prevented the episode from airing in Britain in January 2006.

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, 2006 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. Clips of the episode are available for viewing on Comedy Central's Web site.


Aftermath
Matt and Trey depicted spray-painting graffiti on the church's Los Angeles headquarters sign as a reference to the controversy. 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.

A different reference to Scientology was made accompanying the Rolling Stone cover article Still Sick, Still Wrong celebrating the show's anniversary. The reference portrayed a likely altered photo of Matt and Trey spray-painting graffiti on the church's Los Angeles headquarters sign, which includes "Is dum" and "Hi Tom" messages with a depiction of Cartman's head.


Reception
In a review of South Park: The Complete Ninth Season, The Denver Post 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 satirised" texts by L. Ron Hubbard "available only to Operating Thetans".


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 Delaware 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.

Watch the episode here Click on "Full Episodes" then Season 9 , then "Trapped in the closet".

*Wikipedia