'South Park' menace arrested in terrorist case (WAPO)

By Nancy Tartaglione

A Virginia man who issued warnings to "South Park" creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, has been arrested and charged with giving material support to the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab. Zachary Chesser, who implied Parker and Stone risked death if they showed the prophet Muhammad in a bear costume, was taken into custody on Wednesday as an alleged terrorist recruit after he had been stopped on his way to join the al-Qaeda-linked group, The Washington Post reports.

The charges are unrelated to the threats made against Parker and Stone.

The "South Park" episodes in question led viewers to believe Muhammad was disguised in a bear suit although it turned out to be Santa Claus in the costume.

Comedy Central censored the episodes when they were aired in April.

Comedy Central declined to comment on Wednesday's arrest; efforts to reach Stone and Parker were unsuccessful, said WAPO.

In April, Stone and Parker, upset with Comedy Central's decision to censor the episodes, said, "We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle's customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn't mention Muhammad at all, but it got bleeped too."

After the first of the two episodes debuted, the Website Revolutionmuslim.com posted a statement saying, "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid...They will probably end up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show." Van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker who was murdered in 2004 after making a documentary about violence against Muslim women. The Website illustrated its point with a photo of the filmmaker's body.

The two censored episodes are nominated for an Emmy this year.

Chesser is the latest in a wave of homegrown terrorist suspects as 34 Americans have been charged by US authorities since January last year with direct involvement in international terrorism.

He is charged with trying to join al-Shabab although there is no indication that he carried out any act of terrorism.