IDK What suit your talking about. Isaac Hayes suffered a stroke after the episode aired, and the Church of Scientology released a statement on his behalf. Hayes’ son set the record straight over a decade after his dad died. Here’s the tweet.

For over 14 years, people have speculated about why my father @isaachayes left South Park. I’m here to set the record straight. My dad did not quit South Park. Scientology did.

After the episode Trapped in the Closet aired in 2005, my father suffered a stroke just a few months later that left him unable to speak or make decisions on his own. He was not in any condition to resign from anything. The truth is, someone else within his Scientology circle made that decision and quit the show for him.

He loved being the voice of Chef. He loved the character. He loved connecting with fans. He would joke with people who recognized his voice, and he truly enjoyed being part of the show.

The narrative that he quit because he was offended by the satire is not true. That was a cover story created by others. My father never got to speak for himself because his health robbed him of that chance.

So now I am speaking for him. He did not leave South Park willingly. He was forced out by illness and by people who did not have his best interest at heart.

This is for anyone who loved Chef. This is for anyone who admired my father’s work. This is the truth about what really happened.

Here is the original tweet. Hayes son has also said this in an interview.

Hayes previously stated that although he didn’t like those jokes, he got them and still liked being a part of the show. I’m pretty sure South Park made jokes about Scientology before this episode. So why wouldn’t he have left earlier if that was what he had a problem with?

Here is even more info about it.

So we can all stop down voting OP for being correct.

I recall Matt and Trey said he wasn’t all that upset, he just wouldn’t take part in that specific episode. But then after the episode aired there was a falling out. But maybe he had a stroke?

not so much; the topic had kind of become a whole thing within the comedy/entertainment circuit on account of Hari Kondabolu making a documentary about it.

It was a detailed and nuanced discussion about the wider nature of invisible racism, and therefore attracted a ton of kneejerk reactions from people who hadn’t watched it but sure as hell had opinions. In the end it was just easier to let it lie than get tied up in an intractable discussion on whether an Indian person playing up an Indian stereotype for the entertainment of a mainstream audience is still harmful or not

For anybody not familiar, he was a Loony Tune. His gimmick was he would fall helplessly in love with any black cat who happened to get white paint on her (or possibly his, not here to judge) back.

Pepé was very…self-imposing. To put it mildly. He would not last long in a “No means no” world.

But I’d never thought it’d be 1am, and I’d be a 41 year old man proactively explaining horny skunks to kids on the internet who have never experienced it first hand.