South Park: The Fractured But Whole is out now and both players of the game and fans of the long-standing TV show are having a field day with its raunchy humor, hilarious storyline, and its many nods to the popular TV show. One thing that did stand out before the new game’s launch was a teaser trailer posted by Ubisoft back in September that featured a controversial reference to Kayne West and his deceased mother.
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The controversy started when fans noticed that in the teaser, Kanye West’s deceased mother was portrayed as a fish doting “mammy face.” The reference to black face was immediate and so was the opposing opinions regarding the subject matter. On one hand, many players thought that this was expected humor from a franchise that has never been shy when confronting touchy subjects. On the other hand, many felt that portraying his deceased mother in ‘black face’ was taking things too far.
Now that the title is out, many South Park fans continue to share their thoughts on whether or not the mini-game featured was handled well or not.
The division was almost instantaneous but now that the game is fully launched and players can see the context for themselves, does the way the team at Ubisoft handle the mini-game make the inclusion of his mother morally wrong or “just another part of the game?”
Some players felt that this is no different than any other sensitive topic portrayed throughout the franchise’s history. YouTuber ‘flybydeath’ was not only when they mentioned that this move was not unexpected, taking a definitive approach to “just play the game”:
“Lol at all the offended people here saying, “South Park has gone to far.” Did they really forget all the other stuff Matt and Trey have made fun of in the past? Hell within a month after Steve Irwin died they stuck him in hell walking around with a sting ray in his chest. This is South Park bitches they will go anywhere. So pull up your huggies and get ready for a ride.”
Another YouTuber agreed with the above statement by adding,
“South Park makes fun of jobless rednecks: NeoGAF loves South Park South Park makes fun of black celebrity: NeoGAF hates South Park Learn to take a joke.”
South Park continues to be one of my all time favorite things. Game/Show regardless the media, South Park Rules ?
— Harvey Crews (@HarveyisFlurdt) September 23, 2017
Anything mocking kanye west is take my money material
— Liberal Disease (@liberalsRdopes) September 22, 2017
“may have gone one step too far”
— Ben Kaplan (@BenKaplan22) September 22, 2017
That’s kind of the point of South Park.
But not everyone was on board. Many called this move racist, mean-spirited, and taking their usual humor a step too far. One NeoGAF user said he’s tired of the the hashing of “dated” humor:
“How funny. They brought back the super dated homophobic Kanye joke from 10+ years ago. Mixed it with a semen joke and then used it to make fun of Kanye’s dead mom. I think the older you get the more eye-rolling the “edgyness” of South Park becomes.”
Another user said, “Repellent trash. This makes me ashamed to have liked the first game,” while user CopperPoppy flat out stated: “What the fuck was that mammy fish, are we serious right now.”
The responses have a clear division. The player base’s opposing take on the title’s mini-game is extensive with both sides stating their cases of why it was wrong, or why we shouldn’t care. Which begs the question: Has the South Park: The Fractured But Whole mini-game gone too far?
