THE soul singer Isaac Hayes has resigned from his job as the voice of Chef on the satirical cartoon South Park after taking exception to its “inappropriate ridicule” of religion.

The singer is a follower of the Church of Scientology, which, with some of its adherents such as Tom Cruise, was the butt of jokes in a recent episode of the latest series.

During Hayes’s ten-year run in the part, other episodes have made jokes at the expense of Christians, Muslims, Mormons and Jews.

In a statement explaining his sudden departure from the Comedy Central show, Hayes, 63, did not mention the Scientology episode but condemned its general attitude towards religion as part of what he regarded as “growing insensitivity toward personal spiritual beliefs” in the mass media, including the recent controversy over the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mu hammad.

Hayes said: “There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs . . . begins.”

Hayes, the first black composer to win an Oscar for Best Song with his theme to Shaft, the 1971 film, enjoyed a comeback after his appearance on South Park as the voice of Jerome “Chef” McElroy, a school cook and confidant of the show’s profanity-spewing fourth-grade (nine to ten-year-old) characters.

In the offending episode, one of the boys, Stan, scored so high on a Scientology test that the Church’s followers believed that he was the next L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer who founded the controversial religion. Hayes had recently created a foundation with Lisa Marie Presley to bring Scientology-based “study techniques” to deprived inner-city schools.

Hayes’s change of heart over the show’s content came as a surprise given his approval of previous risqué story lines, including one in which Chef makes a confection known as “chocolate salty balls”.

The double entendres that resulted from the plot were later turned into a hit song by Hayes, entitled Chocolate Salty Balls (PS I Love You).

Matt Stone, who co-created the series, said yesterday: “In over 150 episodes of South Park, Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons or Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show.”

He added: “Of course, we will release Isaac from his contract, and we wish him well.”

South Park was one of many “adult” cartoons that emerged after the success of The Simpsons. Its story lines are generally more scatological and deliberately offensive than those of The Simpsons, making it popular with male teenagers.

The fourth-grade characters live in the town of South Park, Colorado.

The series was created from two short films by Stone and Trey Parker, his collaborator, entitled Jesus vs Frosty and The Spirit of Christmas. The latter featured a duel between Christ and Santa Claus over the true meaning of Christmas.

Comedy Central said that South Park had yet to decide if the character of Chef would be continued with another actor providing the voice.



MADE TO OFFEND

• Years before the recent cartoon protests, South Park depicted Muhammad as a Muslim superhero
  
  
• In the same episode the Hindu God Krishna turns into a beaver in an attempt to kill Abraham Lincoln
  
  
• In an episode titled Bloody Mary, a statue of the Virgin Mary squirts menstrual blood on to the face of the Pope
  
  
• In 1998 an episode denounced by Christians showed Jesus in a boxing match with Satan while a priest shouted: “Jesus, you’re gonna kick ass”
  
  
• In 1999 Satan was portrayed as Saddam Hussein’s homosexual lover
  
  
• According to South Park, the Japanese people and redheads do not have souls