Oh my God, they killed Chef!

Oh my God - Chef is dead! The creators of South Park have taken revenge on soul singer Isaac Hayes by turning his character into a paedophile and then killing him off.

The first show of the controversial US cartoon's new series reheated a long-running feud with Scientology.

And after Hayes quit the programme in protest at the religious mockery, his Chef character turned from hero to villain.

South Park founders Matt Stone and Trey Parker stitched together previous recordings Hayes made for the show.

In the programme, first shown in America on Wednesday, he repeatedly vows to 'make sweet love' to the South Park schoolchildren.

Despite their attempts to redeem him, Chef falls off a bridge on to rocks, suffers severe burns, gets stabbed and then mauled by a mountain lion and bear - before dying.

The show seems to place the blame for his personality change on the 'Super Adventure Club' - a thinly-disguised satire of Scientologists.

The children's tribute to Chef at his funeral says: 'A lot of us don't agree with the choices the Chef has made in the last few days. 'Some of us feel confused that he seemed to turn his back on us.'

Hayes recently announced his departure due to 'intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs'.