Never one to shy away from public controversies, South Park took aim at another animated series in its latest episode… The Simpsons.
The third episode of its current 22nd (yes, twenty-second!) season, ‘The Problem with a Poo’ – a suitably shady title – tackled the much-discussed backlash over the character of Apu in the iconic Matt Groening cartoon.
The story revolved around the festive Christmas Poo Mr Hankey, who finds his reputation go well and truly down the toilet after posting a series of offensive tweets.
It culminates in the faecal fellow being exiled from the city, as Randy Marsh declares: “He’ll have to go to a place that accepts racist, awful beings like him. There are still places out there who don’t care about bigotry and hate.”
And yep, you can guess what happens next – Mr Hankey is swiftly seen arriving in Springfield to be greeted by Apu, who tells him: “Welcome, my friend. Please, rest your weary feet and make yourself at home.”
The Simpsons was called out for perpetuating a grossly offensive racial stereotype with its depiction of the Kwik-E-Mart owner as part of a documentary released last year called The Problem with Apu – not least because the character is voiced by a white actor, Hank Azaria.
A number of viewers have since called for the character to be retired after 31 years on the show, and many were also upset by the show’s reply to its critics in a subsequent episode, and how the show had used its most progressive creation, Lisa, to say that the issue might never be dealt with.
“Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect,” Lisa says to the camera. “What can you do?”
The end credits on last night’s South Park episode finished with their own contribution to cancel culture, “#cancelthesimpsons” – the first time this season it hasn’t finished with Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s “#cancelsouthpark” gag.
The rivalry between Springfield and South Park is one to watch. Perhaps The Simpsons can use this chance to cast more light on the controversial decision to keep Apu?
Elsewhere in the episode, Hankey’s hearing also parodied the recent Brett Kavanaugh controversy, as well as the Roseanne Barr tweet backlash.
The Christmas Poo blames his “bad jokes” on Ambien – much as Roseanne did following her firing because of a racially offensive tweet earlier in the year.
She previously claimed that she was “ambien tweeting” when she wrote the post, which led to a cutting response by the drug’s maker Sanofi, stating: “Racism is not a known side effect.”
South Park airs on Comedy Central in the US and the UK.
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