South Park has undeniably sparked some controversy since it first went on the air in 1997, but not every controversy you've heard about the Comedy Central show is entirely true. Yes, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have taken shots at almost everybody on their raunchy animated comedy, but more of the targets have taken it in stride than you might think. In addition, there are certain urban legends and "fun facts" about the show that have circulated since the show's early days that simply aren't true. Let's take a look at some South Park myths that everyone seems to believe.
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00:00South Park has been lampooning politics and pop culture for two decades now.
00:05In that time, plenty of misconceptions and myths have appeared about the show.
00:09Here are the real stories behind some South Park myths.
00:12Now we can all claim to have learned something today.
00:15Everyone is offended
00:16You'd think that with the show's knack for mocking literally everybody, few advocacy
00:21groups would support South Park, even if they weren't made fun of that week.
00:25As it turns out, quite a few prominent groups representing people who have been lampooned
00:29by the show have actually praised it for being fairly even-handed.
00:33For example, the Tourette's Syndrome Association credited the episode La Petite Tourette, which
00:37features jokes about Tourette's Syndrome, for raising awareness and getting aspects
00:42of the condition factually correct.
00:44Likewise, a group linked with the NAACP lauded the episode, with apologies to Jesse Jackson,
00:50for airing uncensored racial slurs and portraying the impact that they have in context.
00:55Even people of the Jewish faith, possibly the most mocked group in the show's history,
00:59have repeatedly supported the show.
01:01"...and you especially can't say anything about Jews.
01:03Aw, Jesus, why don't you just cut off my bars?"
01:06Organizations have praised the show for both its nuanced portrayal of the kind of accepted
01:10anti-Semitism Jewish people face daily, and sometimes just because, like everyone else,
01:15they find it funny.
01:16And when the show mocked Kanye West's ridiculous ego with a running joke that he enjoys relations
01:21with male fish, West actually didn't mind the episode.
01:24"...Hey man, I'm a genius, alright?
01:25I'm the most talented musician in the world!
01:28If I was a homosexual or a fish, I would know!"
01:31He responded on his blog that he found the episode HILARIOUS, in all caps, too, so you
01:36know he was being super serious.
01:38West thanked the show for helping keep his ego in check, gave the animators a special
01:42shout-out for taking the time to faithfully animate his crew, and admitted that he totally
01:46understood why people felt that way about him.
01:49And Kanye West never did anything stupid or egotistical ever again.
01:54"...I'm with you!"
01:55"...Gays in the building!
01:56Throw your motherf----in' hands in the air like you can't put your hands in the air!"
02:02Yeah, just kidding.
02:04It's all paper
02:05South Park has a unique animated style, owing to the fact that the show's original pilot
02:10was made using cut-out construction paper, and the show's creators just stuck with that
02:14look throughout the series.
02:16It was a labor-intensive process, but it worked pretty well on a budget.
02:20With that in mind, actual construction paper stopped playing a part in the animation process
02:2520 years ago.
02:26By the time the second-ever episode began production, everything was converted to digital.
02:31The closest the animators have come to using construction paper since then was the time
02:35they scanned every piece of pilot episode paper into a computer to use as reference.
02:40So we're basically seeing the same paper cutouts that were used when Cartman got an anal probe.
02:45An alien in every episode
02:47Watch South Park enough, and you'll begin to notice a lot of running jokes and stuff
02:51hidden in the background.
02:52Among the most enduring Easter eggs are the secret aliens in various episodes, hidden
02:56there by the animators.
02:58The phenomenon is so pervasive that there's a popular rumor that you can find an alien
03:02in the background of every episode ever aired.
03:05But that just isn't true.
03:06While there are a ton of hidden aliens, animators for the show have denied that they've gone
03:10as far as to hide one in every episode.
03:12Why?
03:13Well, mostly because the guy whose job it is to do it often forgets.
03:17Because of this, even the animators don't know exactly how many aliens are hidden throughout
03:21the series.
03:22Sorry, but the truth isn't always out there.
03:24They've never shown Muhammad
03:26Perhaps the biggest controversy in the show's history is when they attempted to include
03:30an image of Muhammad in a 2010 episode, simply titled 201.
03:34Ultimately, Comedy Central censored all mentions and depictions of the prophet in the episode,
03:39prompting widespread criticism.
03:41You see, I learned something today.
03:46They even refused to rerun the episode, in addition to making it unavailable to view
03:51legally online or even to purchase on DVD in some countries.
03:55All of this was a surprise to show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, since Muhammad
03:59was shown uncensored in the 2001 episode, Super Best Friends, and nobody gave a flying
04:04fart about it back then.
04:06The episode prominently features a number of religious figures as a band of godly superheroes,
04:11Muhammad included.
04:12He gets wicked sick flame powers and gets punched by a giant statue of Abraham Lincoln.
04:17The big difference is that Super Best Friends aired before 9-11, prior to a huge shift in
04:22the political climate of the U.S., and prior to a group called Revolution Muslim threatening
04:27Parker's and Stone's lives.
04:28"...a warning by a radical Islamic group right here in America, right here in New York, that
04:33they will end up dead because of a cartoon."
04:35To this day, you can't watch any Muhammad episode on South Park Studios' official site,
04:40including the 2001 episode.
04:42But you can see the prophet in the opening credits of several seasons, hidden around
04:46an alien, the devil, and Scott Tenenbaum, the kid who ate his own parents in a bowl
04:50of chili.
04:51They invented the word derp
04:53Consult with Urban Dictionary, preferably not with your parents around, and you'll see
04:57that the word derp is credited to the 1999 South Park episode, The Succubus.
05:02"...if you like chef, you're gonna love Mr. Derp.
05:07Oh, derp!"
05:09That credit isn't entirely correct, though.
05:11While this episode helped popularize the word, it was actually in an earlier Parker and Stone
05:16project, the 1998 film Basketball.
05:19But it's not like Parker and Stone came up with the word, either, since the word was
05:22likely coined by the writer and director of that film, David Zucker.
05:26You know, the guy who wrote Airplane.
05:28And that guy has given us nothing but classics.
05:30"...Surely you can't be serious."
05:32"...I am serious.
05:34And don't call me Shirley."
05:36They were sued by Yelp
05:38Business review website Yelp doesn't really have the most positive reputation, mostly
05:42due to the idea that they allegedly extort small businesses in return for positive reviews.
05:47South Park riffed on these claims in the 2015 episode, You're Not Yelping.
05:52Soon after the episode aired, news spread that Yelp had taken offense and that they
05:55were suing the show for $10 million.
05:58Stone and Parker stoked the flames of controversy by issuing a sarcastic response, giving the
06:02lawsuit claim one star.
06:04Except, Yelp never attempted to sue the show at all.
06:07The story about the alleged lawsuit came from a satirical website, and a lot of people who
06:12didn't read very closely passed it around as real news.
06:15Did you really think that an article written by a guy named Jimmy Rustling was serious
06:20news?
06:21Thanks for the forward grammar, but stick to not dying.