Prosecutors in Russia want to ban the award-winning satirical US cartoon South Park, calling the series 'extremist' after receiving viewer complaints.
South Park, a cartoon aimed at adults featuring a group of nine-year olds in a Colorado ski town, has courted controversy from its 1997 debut, parodying celebrities, politicians, religion, gay marriage and Saddam Hussein.
A spokeswoman for the regional prosecutors' office in Basmanny said investigators filed a motion after deciding an episode broadcast on Moscow television station 2x2 in January 'bore signs of extremist activity.'
The Russian Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith had asked prosecutors to ban South Park after it said 20 experts had studied the show for its effect on young viewers.
The group's leader, Konstantin Bendas, said 'South Park is just one of many cartoons that need to be banned from open broadcast... as it insults the feelings of religious believers and incites religious and national hatred.'
'Our complaint is against a lot of cartoons, but this one was from South Park season three, episode 15,' he said.
The episode, called 'Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics' and availale to view on the cartoon's website (click here to watch the episode), first aired in December 1999, and features the cast singing Christmas carols.
'It's one thing if they are on cable TV and viewers pay money and make a conscious choice. But young children should not be able to turn on the TV after school and watch this. They need to be defended,' Mr Bendas said.
Russia passed a 2006 law widening the definition of extremism to include 'the abasement of national dignity' and 'inciting religious and national hatred', which backers say was needed to stem a wave of violence aimed at ethnic minorities.
