Ratings In its original American broadcast on April 14, 2010, "200" was watched by 3.33 million viewers, according to
Nielsen Media Research, making it the most watched cable television show of the night. It outperformed the previous week's episode, "
You Have 0 Friends", which was seen by 3.07 million viewers, and it was seen by roughly 177,000 more viewers than its closest competitor on April 14,
USA Network's
In Plain Sight. The episode received an overall 2.0 rating/3 share, meaning that it was seen by 2% of the population, and 3% of people watching television at the time of the broadcast. Among viewers between ages 18 and 49, it received a 1.9 rating/5 share, and among male viewers between 18 and 34, it received a 3.7 rating/13 share.
Ryan Broderick of
The Hofstra Chronicle said the episode "came together so simply, so smoothly, and so hilariously that it forgives the last couple lame duck episodes of the season". Broderick said it avoided the pitfalls of most landmark episodes by providing an original story in addition to the throwback references. Nick Zaino of
TV Squad said the episode did not offer much new, but also offer good throwbacks and celebrity spoofs, and didn't "pull any punches". Zaino said the episode has "a wonderful sense of the absurd", particularly through the use of Mecha-Streisand and Cartman's hand-puppet.
Revolution Muslim entry The website for the organization
Revolution Muslim, a New York–based organization, posted an entry that included a warning to creators Parker and Stone that they risk retribution for their
depictions of Muhammad. It said that they would "probably wind up like
Theo van Gogh for airing this show". Filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by an Islamist in 2004 for making a short documentary on the violence against women in some Islamic societies. The posting provided the addresses to Comedy Central in New York and the production company in Los Angeles. The author of the post,
Zachary Adam Chesser (who preferred to be called Abu Talhah al Amrikee), said it was meant to serve as a warning to Parker and Stone, not a threat, and that providing the addresses was meant to give people the opportunity to protest. The entry included audio clips of a sermon by al-Qaeda imam
Anwar al-Awlaki, calling for the assassination of anyone who has defamed Muhammad, saying, "Harming Allah and his messenger is a reason to encourage Muslims to kill whoever does that". It also included a link to a 2009
Huffington Post article that gave details of Stone and Parker's mansion in Colorado, Comedy Central declined to comment on the post. Ayaan Hirsi Ali dismissed claims that the website entry was just a warning, calling it "an assault on the freedom of expression" that should not be marginalized or overlooked. She said of the episode, "The 'South Park' episode of last weekend was not just funny, and it wasn't just witty. [It] addressed an essential piece in the times that we are living. There is one group of people, one religion[,] that is claiming to be above criticism". CNN journalist
Anderson Cooper said of the episode, "You might not like
South Park the cartoon. You might think it's offensive. [But] the notion that some radical Islamic group in America would make a threat, even a veiled one, against two men's lives because of it is chilling." In response to the Revolution Muslim post, the
South Park episode "
201", which aired the following week and concluded the unresolved storylines from "200", was heavily censored by Comedy Central. The channel inserted audio bleeps over all references to Muhammad's name and other portions of dialogue, including the entirety of the ending speech by the show's main characters. The Dutch version of Comedy Central began airing commercials for "200" during the week of April 26, with the show scheduled to air on April 30. However, "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs" was shown instead. When asked about this, a spokesperson for Comedy Central Netherlands said they had reluctantly decided the episode to be pulled, along with the episode "201". Neither episode is available on the Dutch South Park Studios website; the same applies to the German website as of May 9, 2010. The Swedish affiliate of Comedy Central also refused to broadcast "200" and "201" in Sweden: Comedy Central has decided not to air these two episodes of South Park. It is a decision we've made with great reluctance. Comedy Central believes strongly in creative freedom of expression; when unique and deeply insightful creative talents like those behind South Park are able to express themselves freely, we all benefit. However, the safety of our employees is our unquestioned number[-]one priority, and therefore we have decided to take these precautionary measures.
Possible link to Times Square car bomb attempt On May 1, 18 days after the episode's original airdate, a failed
car bomb attempt was discovered by the
New York City Police Department near the eastern corner of
One Astor Plaza in New York City, on West
45th Street, a side street near the location of the world headquarters of
Viacom, Comedy Central's parent company. Some news outlets reported that police are looking into a possible link between the attempted bombing and the warnings of violence against Trey Parker and Matt Stone, although no such link has yet been established. Such speculation was also fueled by statements from U.S. Congressman
Peter T. King, who described as one possible motive "the whole issue with 'South Park,' which Islamic terrorists were threatening to have retribution for." However, King stressed the theory was "one possibility out of a hundred". Revolution Muslim has denied any involvement with the incident. Younus Abdullah Muhammed, who runs the group's website, was in Times Square at the time speaking out against President
Barack Obama with a loudspeaker. But he said of the failed car bomb, "What do you think, I commanded somebody to blow up a building in the middle of Times Square? [...] It had nothing to do with the 'South Park' controversy. It was not an attack targeting Viacom." NYPD Commissioner
Raymond Kelly said of the theory, "We certainly wouldn't rule that out." However, media reports indicated
Faisal Shahzad, the suspect arrested in connection with the attempted bombing, had trained for months prior to the first broadcast of "200."
Sri Lanka ban The depiction of
Buddha snorting
cocaine in "200" and "201" prompted the government of
Sri Lanka to ban the entire series outright. ==Digital censorship==