Why 5 'South Park' episodes aren't available on HBO Max, the show's new streaming home
- All 23 seasons of "South Park" are now available on HBO Max, minus five episodes.
- All of the five absent episodes featured depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.
- The episodes "Super Best Friends," "200," and "201," had already been pulled from the show's previous streaming home Hulu and the South Park website.
- The two-part "Cartoon Wars" episode was then pulled by Comedy Central in its HBO Max deal.
All 23 seasons of the Comedy Central animated adult comedy "South Park" debuted on WarnerMedia's new streaming service HBO Max — with five episodes missing.
The absent five episodes all featured depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. Season five's "Super Best Friends," and season 14's "200" and "201," had already been removed from the show's previous streaming home Hulu and from the official South Park website, where a notice appears when one tries playing the episodes that says, "We apologize that South Park Studios cannot stream" them.
"South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker received online threats in 2010 for mocking the Prophet Muhammad in the episode "200," which prompted Comedy Central to censor all voice and visual references to him in "201." Later, Comedy Central pulled "200," "201," and "Super Best Friends" from streaming.
For its new deal with HBO Max, Comedy Central also pulled season 10's "Cartoon Wars Part 1" and "Cartoon Wars Part 2." (The "Cartoon Wars" episodes are still available to watch at the South Park website.)
The "Cartoon Wars" episodes focus on Cartman's efforts to get another popular animated series, "Family Guy," canceled by exploiting an upcoming episode that will feature a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
HBO Max bought the rights to "South Park" in October for between $500 million and $550 million, according to Variety.
In September, Comedy Central renewed the series for three more seasons. New episodes will be available on HBO Max 24 hours after they air on Comedy Central.