Comedy Central has banned any appearance of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, following fears that it could spark an uproar among Muslim communities worldwide, reports The Huffington Post. In the recent 200th episode of the famously provocative animated show South Park, a bear was depicted in place of Mohammad, with the word "CENSORED" across it, and every mention of the Prophet was bleeped.

The Huffington Post explains that it is unclear whether the censorship “was executed by the [authors of the show] to mock the hoopla, but what is clear is this is not the first time.” South Park's creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker previously tried to insert Islamic figures into the show at the time of the Danish cartoon debates, but Comedy Central refused to air the depictions.

However, The Huffington Post notes that the pair did air an episode which included “an image of Mohammad years before [the Danish controversy,] and a clip of it...runs during the show's opening in dozens of countries, in syndication, on Comedy Central, but garnered no attention.”

Shortly after the controversy surrounding the Mohammad cartoons, Comedy Central received death threats from the Islamic group Revolution Muslim, reports Glossy News. Consequently the station announced that it would suppress its own press release on the issue. With the safety of its employees in mind, Comedy Central responded to the threat by re-publishing the original press release with all of the sections referring to Mohammad redacted.

The Anti-Defamation League, which has been tracking the New York-based Revolution Muslim, claimed that the group, which has a dozen members, has a reputation for being anti-Semitic and promoting an extremist version of Islam, reports The Baltimore Sun. The founders are converts to Islam, including one who was previously Jewish and associated with a group called Jews for Allah.

Revolution Muslim warned the animators that if they depicted the Prophet, they could end up like murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo VanGogh.

“Comedy Central now realizes that even mentioning Muh… whoops, almost did it again,” spokesman John Longfellow said. “I swear, I’m going to get myself killed. This is dangerous stuff.”

According to Glossy News, Parker and Stone attempted to weigh in on this latest development on NBC’s Today Show. ”It starts with giving up your right to free speech in the name of safety, but then what,” asked Parker. “Are we going to start making women wear burqas if people keep threatening to blow us up otherwise? Where is the line? Where does it end?”

Parker and Stone continued to discuss how vital free speech is in American society, adding that Americans “shouldn't give in to terrorist threats.” That section of the interview was never aired on the Today show. NBC producers claimed that they ran out of time for Parker's and Stone's interview, but some believe that there is more behind NBC's actions.

Another cartoonist, Molly Norris, launched and dedicated a special campaign to Stone and Parker over the issue, reports The Washington Post. The "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day," scheduled for May 20, 2010, invited hundreds of people to send their own contribution. However, Norris felt that it had been appropriated and misunderstood by too many uncontrollable parties, and she consequently cancelled the event.

Jon Wellington began a Facebook page publicizing the event, and told the Washington Post, "I created a Facebook event because that's an easy way to remind myself of upcoming events, and I thought it might serve that purpose for others too."Some artists are already posting their own images of Mohammad, “which range from the straight-forward to the angry to the overtly scatological. Any depiction of Mohammad is considered blasphemous by some Muslims.”

A recent survey conducted by Zogby International shows that a majority of Americans (71 percent) disagreed with Comedy Central’s decision to censor the “South Park” depiction of the Prophet, reports The Huffington Post. The sentiment extended beyond party lines, with 60 percent of Democrats, 87 percent of Republicans, and 68 percent of Independents disagreeing with the decision.

Intensity is also on the side of those who disagree with Comedy Central's decision. While almost half (47 percent) of American adults strongly disagree with the decision, only 5% strongly agree with censoring of the South Park episode.