Taking a walk out of ‘Park’

Soul singer Isaac Hayes, who supplies the bass-pitched voice for Chef on Comedy Central’s “South Park,” is in a snit over the show’s religious spoofs and wants out of his contract.

According to a news release Monday morning, “Mr. Hayes has decided to part ways with ‘South Park’ because of recent episodes and press that have embarked upon what he feels are inappropriate ridicule of religious communities.” Hayes decries a “growing insensitivity” toward religion and seems to equate “South Park,” on which he’s appeared since 1997, with the recent controversy over Danish cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

In the statement, the singer said, “There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs of others begins.... As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices.”

Background: Hayes, a Scientologist, is most likely ticked off about “Trapped in the Closet,” a ninth-season episode of “South Park” that first aired in November. In the episode, Stan is hailed by Scientologists as the reincarnation of church founder L. Ron Hubbard.

“This has nothing to do with intolerance and bigotry and everything to do with the fact that Isaac Hayes is a Scientologist and that we recently featured Scientology in an episode of ‘South Park,’ ” responded Matt Stone, co-creator of “South Park,” in a statement. “In 10 years and over 150 episodes of ‘South Park,’ Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons and Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show. To bring the civil rights struggle into this is just a non sequitur. Of course we will release Isaac from his contract and we wish him well.”

Does this mean no more Chef songs like “Chocolate Salty Balls?”

‘Housewives’ whacked by Tony?

ABC easily won Sunday night among the broadcast networks, but the big question is how much “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” were affected by HBO’s premieres of “The Sopranos” and “Big Love.”

The early answer? Tony Soprano seems to have slapped around the ladies of Wisteria Lane a bit.

“Housewives” dipped to an 8.8 rating/19 share among adults 18-49 (22.2 million total viewers), according to early figures from Nielsen Media Research. That was “Housewives’ ” lowest rating for a new episode since October 2004, shortly after the series’ premiere, and down 19% compared with its previous average this season.

“Grey’s” -- which marks its first anniversary March 27 -- was, with a 9.9 rating/23 share (22.5 million overall), more than one full rating point ahead of “Housewives” in the 18-34 demographic and was the night’s most-watched program.

Those numbers would seem to suggest a fairly high tune-in for “Sopranos” among “Housewives’ ” core demographic audience. But we won’t know for sure until the cable ratings come out midday Tuesday. Stay tuned.