In 2006, solely two years earlier than he died, Isaac Hayes stop South Park over an episode referred to as “Trapped In The Closet,” which criticized Scientology. Now his son, Isaac Hayes III, is setting the file straight about his dad’s departure from the present, claiming he was pressured by fellow Scientologists to depart.
Hayes was a identified Scientologist and voiced Chef within the sequence. “There’s a place on this world for satire, however there’s a time when satire ends, and intolerance and bigotry in direction of spiritual beliefs of others begins,” his unique assertion about his exit learn. In an interview with Cracked, his son defined that Hayes had been recovering from a stroke and was “actually studying find out how to speak” once more. He son stated:
On the time, the folks that had been round him had been largely Scientologists — his publicists and administration. These choices about his involvement within the present, his leaving the present, had been made by these folks and never him. He would have by no means stop that present.
“He didn’t go away South Park willingly,” he emphasised in a tweet. “He was compelled out by sickness and by individuals who didn’t have his greatest curiosity at coronary heart. That is for anybody who cherished Chef. That is for anybody who admired my father’s work. That is the reality about what actually occurred.”
Learn the total article right here, and skim his full tweet under.
For over 14 years, folks have speculated about why my father @isaachayes left South Park. I’m right here to set the file straight.
My dad didn’t stop South Park. Scientology did.
After the episode “Trapped within the Closet” aired in 2005, my father suffered a stroke only a few months later that left him unable to talk or make choices on his personal. He was not in any situation to resign from something. The reality is, another person inside his Scientology circle made that call and stop the present for him.
He cherished being the voice of Chef. He cherished the character. He cherished connecting with followers. He would joke with individuals who acknowledged his voice and he actually loved being a part of the present.
The narrative that he stop as a result of he was offended by the satire just isn’t true. That was a canopy story created by others. My father by no means acquired to talk for himself as a result of his well being robbed him of that likelihood.
So now I’m talking for him. He didn’t go away South Park willingly. He was compelled out by sickness and by individuals who didn’t have his greatest curiosity at coronary heart.
That is for anybody who cherished Chef. That is for anybody who admired my father’s work. That is the reality about what actually occurred.
Hear the total story on @cracked on-line.
#IsaacHayes #southpark #southparkchef
For over 14 years, folks have speculated about why my father @isaachayes left South Park. I’m right here to set the file straight.
My dad didn’t stop South Park. Scientology did.
After the episode “Trapped within the Closet” aired in 2005, my father suffered a stroke only a few… pic.twitter.com/C2wGvT7kcx
— Isaac Hayes III (@IsaacHayes3) July 18, 2025