South Park/Trapped in the Closet

Trapped in the Closet
Season 9, Episode 12
Airdate	November 16, 2005
Production Number	912
Written by	"John Smith"
Directed by	"John Smith"
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South Park — Season Nine

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Trapped in the Closet is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of South Park, and the one hundred thirty-seventh episode overall.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

While Stan looks to a new religion for answers, the church leaders recognize Stan as the second coming. Some A-List Hollywood celebrities join the faithful who have set up camp right in front of Stan’s house.

Trivia

The Show

• Seriously?: Yes, seriously. The story told in the story is actually what Scientologists believe. The president of the organization prefaces the story by saying that people have to be in the church for years before hearing the origins of the religion. You actually have to be at OT3 to be allowed access to the story. Everything in the episode said about Scientology is true with the exception of OT9.
• Celebrity Designs: Unlike most episodes where celebrities are nothing more than a photograph cut up like Terrance and Phillip. However, in this episode, all of the celebrities are given real faces.
• Alien Cameos: When the aliens are dumped into the volcano by Xenu, you can clearly see a Wookie and the black alien from one of the Halloween specials.

Behind the Scenes

• Crazy Credits: All of the credits in the episode are "John Doe" or "Jane Doe" as a preventive measure against frivilous lawsuits. However, Isaac Hayes was not credited, presumably because he is a Scientologist. This marks the first episode that he wasn't credited for.
• Fallout: This episode reportedly was the primary reason for Isaac Hayes quitting the show. Hayes issued a statement in mid-March 2006 saying that he could no longer stand the religious "bigotry" often employed by the series. However, when the episode first premiered, he was asked about it and said that it was just a joke and that, although he believed they should understand more about his faith, he would treat it as such. Furthermore, several sources close to him said that he couldn't possibly have issued the statement due to still recovering from a stroke that he had in January of that year. It is often presumed that Hayes did not want to quit the show, but the Scientologists that direct his career did.
• International Airings: This episode was not broadcast in Britain due to the high potential for lawsuits and because of the threats to Paramount made by Tom Cruise.
• Rebroadcast: This episode was pulled from the schedule on the week that Hayes announced his departure from the show. It was replaced with Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls.

Allusions and References

• Scientology: All of the pertanent information about Scientology is explained in the episode. For more information on the organization, Xenu.net is one of the most frequently updated websites dedicated to the spread of information about Scientology.

• Trapped in the Closet: Trapped in the Closet is a twelve-part epic song by R. Kelly. The "hip-hopera" was first released in six parts on TP-3: Reloaded. A second set of six chapters was released later to continue the story, which is told in a linear narrative fashion where, like in the episode, Kelly says exactly what he's doing in the narration as it happens. These songs were also accompanied by extremely literal videos (i.e. whatever he says in the song happens on screen in the video).

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