South Park’s “Chef” Isaac Hayes Never Really Quit the Show: Scientologists Did on His Behalf

I don’t know about you guys but Chef was one of my favorite all-time South Park characters and I don’t think I’m alone on this one.  Played by the legendary Isaac Hayes,  Chef will always be in our memories as one hell of a singer, mentor, and guy that just said whatever the hell he wanted on that show.  Unfortunately Isaac Hayes is no longer with us, but something came to light today that I never even realized.   While many were under the impression that when Isaac Hayes quit the show South Park that he simply quit in that it was his own decision and he felt it was time to leave.   However, that’s not the case at all.

According to Hayes’ son Isaac Hayes, did not personally quit the show as Matt Stone and Trey Parker had originally thought. They later found out that his Scientologist assistants resigned on his behalf after Hayes had a stroke, possibly without his knowledge. Here’s a direct transcript from an interview:

Stone: When we did the Scientology episode, [Isaac Hayes, who was a Scientologist] came over, and I sat with him. It was like a day or two after, and it was pretty obvious from the conversation that somebody had sent him to ask us to pull the episode. It had already gone on the air, and we didn’t tell him because we didn’t want him to be held accountable. Plausible deniability. [Four months after “Closet” aired, Hayes quit the show via a statement, supposedly in protest.]

Hayes III: Isaac Hayes did not quit South Park; someone quit South Park for him. What happened was that in January 2006 my dad had a stroke and lost the ability to speak. He really didn’t have that much comprehension, and he had to relearn to play the piano and a lot of different things. He was in no position to resign under his own knowledge. At the time, everybody around my father was involved in Scientology – his assistants, the core group of people. So someone quit South Park on Isaac Hayes’ behalf. We don’t know who.

Stone We sort of figured out the whole picture a bit later, but that’s totally what happened.

So yeah, take that for what it’s worth.