A South Park show that mocked Tom Cruise got yanked from the Comedy Central line-up Wednesday, with some suggestions that it was pressure by Cruise, a noted Scientologist, that led to the move. South Park's creators are not happy.

Here's a link to a Youtube.com search results page where you can see some of the offending videos.

An excerpt from the AP story on globeandmail.com:

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the animated satire, are digging in against the celebrity-endorsed religion after a controversial episode mocking outspoken Scientologist Tom Cruise was yanked abruptly from the schedule Wednesday — with Internet rumours it was covert warfare by Cruise that led to its departure.

“So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun!” the South Park creators said in a statement Friday in Daily Variety. “Temporarily anozinizing (sic) our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies... You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail!”

Internet bloggers accused Cruise of threatening to not promote “Mission Impossible 3,” a surefire summer blockbuster, if the offending episode ran. Comedy Central is owned by Viacom, as is Paramount, which is putting out “MI:3.”

But Cruise's representative, Arnold Robinson, said that the mega-star made no such demands.

“Not true,” Robinson said. “I can tell you that he never said that.”

A call to a Paramount representative was not returned Friday.