SEXUAL HUMOR Ratings board frowns upon puppet love in 'Team America'

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone toned down the puppet sex scene in their upcoming film "Team America: World Police" and finally got an R rating, Paramount Pictures said this week.
"Team America" uses marionettes to satirize the war on terror, Hollywood peaceniks and explosion-filled action-movie clich & eacute;s.
Although the main characters are 2-foot-tall puppets with visible strings guiding their movements, a jokey -- and explicit -- sex scene between two of them originally earned the movie an NC-17 rating.
That severely limits the distribution, advertising and audience for any movie, and the filmmakers promised to bring "Team America" into R-rated territory, a studio representative said.
Although various puppets are bloodily gunned down, eaten by sharks or dismembered, the scene of puppet love was a sticking point until Parker and Stone trimmed away some shots. On Tuesday, the ratings board gave the OK to the requested R citing "graphic, crude and sexual humor; violent images and strong language, all involving puppets."
The Motion Picture Association of America's initial rating is regarded humorously by many in Hollywood -- especially since the puppets have no genitalia, just a network of joints and hinges.
"Team America" opens nationwide Oct. 15.