Do I buy that he was manipulated by his inner circle of scientologists? Yes. Do I believe that he himself had no agency in both quitting the show and never returning? No.
The story of who someone is nearly 20 years after their death tends to get a little muddled within families.
I think it was the, “he just had a stroke” part that made him know that Isaac didn’t make the decision.
A full decade after Hayes quit South Park, his son, Isaac Hayes III, told The Hollywood Reporter that Hayes had suffered a stroke in January 2006 before he quit, and that he didn’t leave the show. “Isaac Hayes did not quit South Park; someone quit South Park for him,” Hayes III maintained. He explained that the initial stroke took away his father’s ability to speak as well as some cognitive comprehension. “He was in no position to resign under his own knowledge,” Hayes III continued. “At the time, everybody around my father was involved in Scientology — his assistants, the core group of people. So someone quit South Park on Isaac Hayes’ behalf. We don’t know who.”
Yes I read the article. You’ll also note he recovered and resumed touring, which his son also blames scientology for and blames his death on. It’s a narrative that removes his agency completely and I don’t buy it.
Do I buy that he was manipulated by his inner circle of scientologists? Yes. Do I believe that he himself had no agency in both quitting the show and never returning? No.
The story of who someone is nearly 20 years after their death tends to get a little muddled within families.
I think it was the, “he just had a stroke” part that made him know that Isaac didn’t make the decision.
Yes I read the article. You’ll also note he recovered and resumed touring, which his son also blames scientology for and blames his death on. It’s a narrative that removes his agency completely and I don’t buy it.
You agree that scientology is pretty evil though, right? They will do and have done faaaaaar worse. Stalking, wife disappeared, etc.
You don’t buy it even with countless examples of the same thing happening from Britney Spears, to Avicii, to Elvis Presley?