Jesse Morton (Harold Channer/YouTube)
LAST LAUGH: Brooklyn radical Jesse Morton pleaded guilty yesterday to online threads of revenge against “South Park” creators for an episode that depicted Mohammad as a bear. (
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A Muslim extremist from Brooklyn pleaded guilty yesterday to making online threats against the creators of “South Park” because the TV show depicted the prophet Mohammed as a bear.
Jesse Curtis Morton, 33, and another homegrown radical, Zachary Adam Chesser, 22, created revolutionmuslim.com to spread their messages of hate, officials said.
They were outraged over an April 2010 “South Park” episode in which Tom Cruise and other celebrities previously lampooned by the Comedy Central show sue the town — but offer to drop the case if they can meet Mohammed and find out why he had so far been spared their ridicule.
One of the townspeople says, “If Mohammed appears in South Park, we get bombed.” In the end, the townspeople protect Mohammed from potential kidnappers by hiding him in a bear suit. “Mohammed, thanks again for doing this,” one character says.
Depicting the prophet in any way is considered sacrilegious by many followers of Islam. After the episode aired, Morton’s Web site posted a note that said “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker faced the same fate as a Dutch man who was killed after he created a documentary about Muslim women.
“We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid, and they will probably end up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show,” the posting said.
The posting also gave the Los Angeles address of Stone and Parker’s production company and the New York address of Comedy Central and advised readers to “pay a visit.”
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, “Morton was in our sights for some time because of the violence promulgated by his group.” He said detectives “were in a position to learn exactly how Morton used the Internet to conspire to solicit murder.”
The Web site evolved from a group, Islamic Thinkers, that espoused support for Osama bin Laden and came to the NYPD’s attention in 2004-05.
Morton admitted his site helped radicalize several other Muslims, including Samir Khan, who grew up in Queens and became editor of an al Qaeda magazine, and José Pimentel, who was arrested last year on charges of planning to attack returning US servicemen and blow up police cars in Washington Heights. Pimentel sent the site an e-mail saying he was a “big fan,” according to court documents.
Chesser was arrested in July 2010 and Morton, who also uses the name Younus Abdullah Mohammad, fled the US shortly afterward. He was arrested last year in Morocco. Chesser was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Morton faces up to 15 years.