South Park offends yet again
show depicts Queen committing suicide in episode The Snuke.
Apr 2, 2007
(Source: www.imdb.com)
Yup, South Park is once again courting controversy. The Comedy Central animated show recently depicted Queen Elisabeth II putting a gun in her mouth and pulling the trigger, after a British plot to invade the USA is foiled.
In a sequence during the latter part of the episode "The Snuke" (South Park's spoof of TV show 24), a fleet of British sailing ships is shown sailing towards the U.S. When several American jet planes destroy the British fleet, one of the soldiers calls the Queen on his cell phone (the British still have a wooden navy but they possess cell phones? Suspension of disbelief time) and informs her, "Your Majesty! The attack has failed. We were . . . unable to end the American Revolution."
At which point, the Queen says, "I see," pulls out a handgun, puts the barrel in her mouth, and shoots herself. The scene ends with her falling to the floor, with blood and other gory bits splattered on the throne room wall. You can watch the offending clip here.
The episode also featured a terrorist plot to plant a remote-detonated nuclear bomb in a . . . sensitive part of Hilary Clinton's anatomy.
Reaction to the episode was instant, and typical.
"The cartoon series that has pushed the bounds of taste for a decade, has perhaps produced its most spectacularly offensive episode yet," huffed the Daily Mail. "Certainly Her Majesty is unlikely to be amused by a programme that shows her blowing her brains out."
"Most commentators have been unanimous in declaring that South Park has gone too far this time," remarked The Guardian. "The rest of us are surely unanimous in concluding that the same commentators can't be too familar with the show."
South Park has never shied away from controversy. Last year, the Emmy-nominated episode "Trapped in the Closet" mocked Scientology and its celebrity spokespeople: actors like Tom Cruise and John Travolta who, rumour has it, are "in the closet" about their true sexuality. The show even mocked Scientology's dogma in an animated sequence, with the sub-title "Scientologists actually believe this!" The resulting furor resulted in "Chef" voice actor/soul legend Isaac Hayes (an active Scientologist) quitting the show.
Another 2006 episode, "Bloody Mary," depicted a statue of the Virgin Mary menstruating on the Pope, while the two-part series "Cartoon Wars" depicted Mohammed in a response to last year's Islam cartoons controversy. Other episodes depicted the late zoologist Steve Irwin in Hell, with a stingray barb still stuck in his chest.
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone describe themselves as "equal-opportunity offenders" and will often mock all sides of an issue, rather than taking a concrete stand.
A Comedy Central spokesman told the London Daily Mirror, "South Park has never shied away from offending people in the name of comedy. Nobody is off-limits."
Fun Fact: Matt Stone is a card-carrying member of the Republican Party, while Trey Parker is a Libertarian.
