South Park has always embraced taboo subjects. Over the course of thirteen seasons, co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have proven themselves controversy-friendly, willing to, say, depict Steve Irwin with a stingray barb in his chest or drop the n-word 43 times in a single episode. Now, only a month into the latest season, Stone and Parker are at it again, this time depicting the prophet Muhammad in a bear suit during last week’s episode. Already, a Muslim group has made mention of “violent retribution.”

David Bauder reports that the website RevolutionMuslim.com (now removed) hosted an article by one Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee alleging that the show’s creators “outright insulted” the religious leader.

“We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.”

Accompanying the text was a grim image of Van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker who in 2004 was brutally murdered by a fanatic who objected to a film he’d made about Muslim women. CNN adds that the website has a history of promoting jihad, and praising Osama bin Laden. I’m guessing the South Park boys knew exactly what they were doing here and saw this coming in advance. If nothing else, they’ve got more guts than the dumb-shits at Yale University Press.