Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s South Park has been making people laugh for nearly three decades now and it shows no signs of stopping soon. But like with any show that takes pointed jabs at, well, everything, there’s pretty much an episode to offend someone from any walk of life. And, sometimes, it’s been arguable whether a certain episode’s pointed jabs have been worth the cost. This is primarily true when it comes to references to the prophet Muhammad, which is something South Park has done in a direct way not once but five times. But that particular target of parody isn’t the only one that has gotten the series in some hot water.
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Naturally, the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was excluded from consideration, but it certainly aggravated those who already found themselves upset by the series’ comparatively innocuous first few seasons. Furthermore, the Paramount+ specials weren’t considered, e.g. the OnlyFans-focused South Park (Not Suitable for Children).
“Super Best Friends” — Season 5, Episode 3
Remember how the prophet Muhammad was mentioned? Season 5’s “Super Best Friends” was the first time South Park included him in an episode. It’s also the only time he’s actually been seen in an episode. And that’s only for those who own the Season 5 DVD set.
In truth, it’s hard to say that Muhammad is even parodied in “Super Best Friends.” Like Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Joseph Smith, Krishna, Laozi, and “Sea Man,” he’s part of the group that takes down the episode’s actual target: David Blaine. Even still, you cannot stream “Super Best Friends.”
“All About Mormons” — Season 7, Episode 12
Two years after he helped take down David Blaine, the founder of the Mormon religion, Joseph Smith, was himself the target of Parker and Stone’s satirizing. As could be expected, Mormons weren’t thrilled about it. To be fair, “All About Mormons” did call them dumb about 147 times.
It’s an outright great episode, and even some Mormons out there found it funny and charming, according to Parker. Does the episode essentially label the religion a bunch of bologna? Sort of. But what it does even more is say that that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the religion makes its members better people for being believers. It depicts them as individuals who spend quality time with their families and help the poor.
“Ginger Kids” — Season 9, Episode 11
One of the already-terrific Season 9’s best episodes, “Ginger Kids,” caused some very unfortunate and unacceptable real-world problems. Ed Sheeran has quasi-joked that this episode ruined his life, but he got off easy. Because of “Ginger Kids,” some stupid people out there actually committed violent acts against red-haired individuals in what was called “National Kick a Ginger Day.”
The irony surrounding that is the simple fact that, like many other Cartman-led episodes, the whole point is that he’s both a bigot and an idiot. Apparently, a fair number of people in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Ireland didn’t get that blatantly obvious message. The fact that these hate crimes occurred not just once (in 2008) but three times (incidents in 2013 and 2015) is truly baffling. The episode remains solid and hysterical, and it’s easy to say that Parker and Stone’s intention was never to inspire harm against real-world individuals.
“Trapped in the Closet” — Season 9, Episode 12
The story behind “Trapped in the Closet” is one of the most notorious in South Park‘s history, if not the most notorious. Long story short, Viacom was the owner of both Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central. The episode’s primary target, Tom Cruise, hated it and allegedly threatened to pull out of promoting Mission: Impossible III if Comedy Central ever aired the episode a second time.
It makes sense Cruise was furious after seeing the episode, as it lays plain just how absurd Scientology is. Prior to the episode, many of those who watched it had no idea what Scientology even really was. After all, they hadn’t shelled out thousands of dollars to learn the “truth.”
[RELATED: South Park Fans Still Upset About Controversial Cartman Ending]
“Bloody Mary” — Season 9, Episode 14
Not even South Park can rip on the Catholic Church and expect to walk away without any scratches. After the Virgin Mary-skewering “Bloody Mary” episode aired, The Catholic League got upset, demanding an apology (they had nothing to say whenever South Park poked fun at any religion other than Christianity throughout its previous eight years, it should be noted).
They also tried to get the episode removed from syndication and even said the episode should never be made available on DVD. It took about a year, but the episode did finally air a second time on Comedy Central.
“Cartoon Wars” — Season 10, Episodes 3 & 4
“Cartoon Wars” was initially supposed to be Season 10’s debut. In fact, the reason it was ultimately expanded to a two-parter was because Parker and Stone’s fight with Comedy Central over the episode’s depiction of Muhammad took so long. It’s odd that the episodes’ mentions of Muhammad sent so many shivers up Comedy Central’s spine, as it’s nothing compared to what would be seen (or, rather, not seen) in the later “200” duology. If anyone should have been offended, it was Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. But, instead, he called the episode “funny and accurate.”
“Cartoon Wars Part II” ran into some issues when, just as the episode says big companies are likely to do, Comedy Central superimposed a black title card over the Muhammad sequence. It was an unfortunate example of censorship but nothing compared to the fear-induced cowardice seen in “201.” In other words, “Cartoon Wars” was the first of two duologies that have shown that perhaps not every topic is able to be parodied on South Park, where even the most taboo of topics should be fair game.
“Hell on Earth 2006” — Season 10, Episode 11
For the most part, Season 10’s “Hell on Earth 2006” is more goofy than anything else. It’s really only one scene that many found upsetting. Specifically, the joke at the expense of Steve Irwin, who had been killed by a stingray just under two months prior to the episode’s air date.
The moment itself points to the concept of it being too soon and inappropriate. At his costume party, Satan is told that someone dressed up as Irwin, which is upsetting the other guests. Satan approaches the man and tells him he doesn’t condone dressing up as Irwin so soon after his death and that he must leave the party. The man then reveals that he actually is Irwin, with the stingray still hanging out of him. Quite understandably, Irwin’s family was hurt by the scene, and given the fact that Steve was such a kind-hearted individual beloved by so many, there are quite a few who would argue this was a scene that would have been better left on the cutting room floor.
“The China Probrem” — Season 12, Episode 8
“The China Probrem” may be right about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but it’s still pretty far from one of South Park‘s best movie references. This is mostly due to the fact that, even for South Park, it’s pretty offensive. Toss in the fact that the A-plot with Cartman and Butters is both dull and repetitive and “The China Probrem” is not one of South Park‘s finer 22-minute stretches.
But, as for what really upset people, the B-plot’s assault scenes took the offensiveness cake over the A-plot’s racist depictions. Did Kingdom of the Crystal Skull make a mockery of its own IP? Sure thing. Was the best way to show this to recreate sexual assault scenes from Deliverance and The Accused? Not so sure a thing.
“200” & “201” — Season 14, Episodes 5 & 6
If there’s any episode that has been outright ruined by censorship, it’s “201.” “200” gets things off to a fine and funny start, with Tom Cruise leading every other celebrity the town (a.k.a. the series itself) has lampooned in a class-action lawsuit. His price to end the lawsuit? Get the prophet Muhammad to show up for a meet-and-greet.
The radical Muslim organization Revolution Muslim posted a not-so-cryptic death threat against Parker and Stone. In response, Comedy Central heavily edited “201.” Every mention of Muhammad’s name was bleeped, which makes the episode an annoying watch if anything. But that’s nothing compared to the elongated bleep that covers Kyle’s speech which, ironically enough, was about companies bending over due to intimidation and fear. Like “Super Best Friends” and the two “Cartoon Wars” episodes, “200” and “201” are not available to stream to this day.
“Band in China” — Season 23, Episode 2
Season 23’s “Band in China” is all about media censorship in China and how U.S.-based studios seem to kowtow to the parameters of that censorship to generate more profit. In other words, the episode pretty clearly suggests that the aforementioned U.S.-based studios should not compromise their values to earn more money overseas. China’s reaction? Ban South Park in its entirety.
The fact that China immediately did the very thing the episode criticizes them for is both somewhat ironic and fully predictable. The Winnie-the-Pooh cameo would probably be enough to do that. It’s unfortunate that Chinese citizens have been deprived of Parker and Stone’s genius, but that was always the risk this episode ran.
