South Park Episode Banned in UK
The British distributors of " South Park " will not show the now-famous " Trapped in the Closet " episode due to fear of lawsuits from the sue-happy Cruise
The episode is absolutely brilliant. It skewers the Scientology cult head on like no " serious " program that I've seen has ever done. It has ( hilarious )" guest appearances " by Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidmman, R Kelly and John Trovolta.
If you want to see the entire South Park episode in question, it's right here
Unfortunatly, England does not really have freedom of the press the way the US, Canada and other countries do. The English civil law system makes it very easy for anyone, including public figures like Cruise, to sue for damages if they don't like they way they are portrayed in the press. The fictional Cruise in the video even refers to this as he yells " I'll Sue you in England! "
I beieve that Ireland has inherited the same speech - chilling libel laws from the English system.
Tom, millions of British viewers have Internet access , and they won't exactly have a hard time finding this video. Who're you gonna sue now?
( Clip first seen here via United Irelander )
I managed to catch the show on Youtube.com. God bless the internet eh?
Very petty stuff from Mr Cruise.
Posted by United Irelander | January 22, 2006 12:11 AM
Is anyone in Britain or Ireland trying to change the libel laws? I think that they do inhibit free speech and it would make me crazy if I lived there!!
Posted by The Phantom | January 22, 2006 11:58 AM
Yeah, people are trying to change them, the now-infamous McLibel case has led the charge..
http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/releases/msc150205.html
Posted by Anonymous | March 16, 2006 11:24 AM