Boycott backfires: South Park gets record audience

An appeal from the Catholic Church for New Zealanders to boycott an episode of South Park has resulted in a record audience there for the controversial cartoon.

The "Bloody Mary" episode of South Park drew more than six times the normal audience, New Zealand broadcaster TV Works announced Thursday.

The episode, which aired Wednesday night, was seen by 210,000 viewers, according to Rick Friesen, the broadcaster's chief operating officer.

"I expected a bit of a rise, but not that much," he told the Associated Press.

In the past month, he said, an average South Park episode typically draws about 32,500 viewers to the network's C4 youth channel.

During Wednesday night's broadcast, however, more than 350 people protested outsidethe TV Works headquarters inAuckland.

The protest centred on a statue of the Virgin Mary, with participants clutching Bibles and religious icons singing hymns, reciting the rosary and offering other prayers.

A Catholic priest who led the protesters in prayer asked God to enlighten those responsible for the cartoon "and strengthen them to see how much harm they can do."

Last weekend, New Zealand's Roman Catholic bishops issued a letter urging parishioners to boycott the channel and its sponsors. The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand also protested the episode and said it was deeply offensive.

The South Park episode revolves around a nearby town's discovery that a statue of the Virgin Mary has begun bleeding. The event is dubbed a miracle and the people flock to see the statue, including Pope Benedict XVI, who ultimately pronounces that the statue is menstruating.

In December, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights condemned the episode's debut in the U.S.

The satirical, Emmy Award-winning South Park was created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who write, produce and provide voices for the show.

The provocative cartoon, about a group of foul-mouthed fourth graders living in the fictional small town of South Park, Colo., lampoons current events and famous figures, but Stone and Parker have said that many of the regular characters are based on people they knew while growing up in Colorado.

South Park airs on Comedy Central in the U.S. and the Comedy Network in Canada.

New Zealand's TV Works is a subsidiary of CanWest MediaWorks, which is majority owned by Winnipeg-based CanWest Global Communications.

Last summer, New Zealand's Catholic Church called for a boycott of the C4 youth channel for airing another cartoon series: the BBC-produced Popetown, a satire about life in the Vatican.