If Roger Friedman is right about Chef’s Quitting Controversy, then someone has been falsely representing Isaac “Chef” Hayes while he’s been incapacitated. After South Park ran a daring and controversial episode attacking Scientology, there was some outcry from Scientologists but then the controversy died down. Then, out of nowhere, Isaac Hayes allegedly quits the show…and that is followed fast on his heels by Comedy Central’s yanking a rerun of the episode.

The episode in question is online. If you have not seen it, click on the extended entry for this post and you can watch it right now.

According to Friedman:

…Hayes is in no position to have quit anything. Contrary to news reports, the great writer, singer and musician suffered a stroke on Jan. 17.

…Friends in Memphis tell me that Hayes did not issue any statements on his own about South Park. They are mystified.

"Isaac’s been concentrating on his recuperation for the last two and a half, three months," a close friend told me.

Hayes did not suffer paralysis, but the mild stroke may have affected his speech and his memory. He’s been having home therapy since it happened.

That certainly begs the question of who issued the statement that Hayes was quitting South Park now because it mocked Scientology four months ago. If it wasn’t Hayes, then who would have done such a thing?

Of course, Matt Stone would not have been talking to the press if South Park Studios hadn’t received some form of official resignation from Hayes’ “people.” The pivotal consideration may be, who are Hayes’ “people” in question? Hayes is a Scientologist, and as Friedman notes, “Hayes, like Katie Holmes, is constantly monitored by a Scientologist representative most of the time.” (Emphasis mine.) These advisors are often guiding the celebrity’s actions, with advice like “You must never show it to the Laker Girls.“