South Park was created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and debuted in 1997. It quickly gained notoriety as one of the most controversial shows of its time. The satire of the show, immature humour, and refusal to avoid sensitive subjects have made it a memorable animated series. Below are episodes from Collider’s list of the “7 Most Controversial Episodes of All Time, Ranked,” from most to least controversial.
7. Woodland Critter Christmas
Season 8, Episode 14
“Woodland Critter Christmas” offers one of South Park’s darkest tales of a holiday special, subverting the “wholesome holiday special” trope. It begins with Stan, who encounters a group of cute animals in the mountains, merrily preparing for an “immaculate” birth. However, the euphoric vigour of the woodland animals obscures the truth: they are a group of Satanists preparing for the Antichrist. The plot descends into mayhem, including murder, ritual sacrifice, and a gruesome orgy. It balances shock with satire; the episode contains absurd gore and dark humour, which mock a certain kind of storytelling that involves religion and its own holiday tropes. In this way, “Woodland Critter Christmas” is one of the most disturbingly memorable holiday parodies in South Park.
6. Band in China
Season 23, Episode 2, 2019
In the Band in China episode, South Park goes after Hollywood for being too eager to please Chinese censors just to get into their market. The story shows Randy going to China hoping to grow his dodgy business, while Stan’s death metal band gets popular. But then, his producer tells him they have to play by China’s rules. The episode calls out U.S. entertainment companies, making fun of Disney with a Mickey Mouse appearance. It’s a pretty obvious jab, and China responded by banning South Park completely. The creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, then posted a sarcastic sorry on Twitter, making it clear they weren’t backing down.
5. Trapped in the Closet
Season 9, Episode 12, 2005
In that South Park episode, Trapped in the Closet, Stan gets caught up in a crazy mess that pokes fun at Scientology. Believe it or not, they say he’s got, like, a ridiculously high thetan count, and the show jokes he could actually be L. Ron Hubbard came back to life. Things get even weirder when Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and R. Kelly all end up hiding in Stan’s closet. The episode really goes after Scientology’s beliefs, mixing in the real stuff with some pretty funny jabs at famous followers. This daring take on the religion made waves, and Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef and a Scientologist himself, quit the show because of it.
4. The China Problem
Season 12, Episode 8, 2008
“The China Problem” is one of those South Park episodes that really pushes the boundaries. Even folks who’ve watched the show forever were pretty shocked, because after catching the Olympics in Beijing, Cartman gets it in his head that China’s going to invade the US. So, naturally, he gets Butters to join his American Liberation Front. At the same time, Stan and his buddies are bummed out by the new Indiana Jones flick. They start imagining Spielberg and Lucas doing awful stuff to the character. Meanwhile, Cartman dresses up in some classic Chinese getup and sneaks into a Chinese place, trying to play spy. All the racial stuff and the over-the-top parody stirred up quite a bit of trouble when the episode first came out.
3. With Apologies to Jesse Jackson
Season 11, Episode 1, 2007
“With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” takes a funny but sharp look at racism and how public apologies play out today. The story is about Randy Marsh, who messes up big time by blurting out a racial slur on TV, which, of course, sets everyone off. Trey Parker and Matt Stone point out that apologies usually don’t get to the heart of the problem, and they throw in some crazy scenes, like Jesse Jackson calling himself the Emperor of Black People and Cartman making fun of sensitivity training. What’s wild is they say the slur 43 times in the show, which is really pushing it for a social message. The Parents Television Council hated it, but some reviewers thought it was brave and smart in looking at race and being sensitive to different cultures.
2. “200” & “201”
Season 14, Episodes 5 & 6, 2010
The “200” and “201” episodes of South Park? Yeah, those are super censored. They brought back Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology, all wrapped up in a plot that included Muhammad, whom we’d seen before. Since Islamic law frowns on showing the Prophet, things got heated. People online made violent threats. Comedy Central stepped in, bleeped out tons of stuff, chopped up scenes, and then axed the episodes from ever airing again or being streamed. Now, you won’t find them online anywhere. If you want to watch, your only hope is finding a Blu-ray or DVD. These two episodes are still one of the wildest and most talked-about things South Park has ever done.
Also Read: 5 Disney Live-Action Remakes vs. Their Animated Originals; Which Is Better?
1. Cartoon Wars
Season 10, Episodes 3 & 4 (2006)
In the Cartoon Wars two-parter, Family Guy was going to show Muhammad, which led to some pretty serious threats from extremists. Instead of facing the music, the South Park folks hilariously decided to stick their heads in the sand. The episodes also joke that Family Guy’s jokes come from manatees.
But get this: Comedy Central chickened out and cut the Muhammad scene, replacing it with a black screen and a note about why they wouldn’t show it. Talk about ironic – the episode ended up being censored, just like what they were making fun of! Underneath all the crazy jokes, the story was actually South Park taking a jab at some real stuff going on in society. FYI, you can’t find these episodes on Max.
Wrapping Up
South Park’s nerve in joking about religion, who we are, politics, and stuff we usually avoid is what makes it great and gets it in trouble. The episodes I talked about show how Parker and Stone use jokes to deal with touchy subjects and test how far free speech can go. With its over-the-top jokes and controversies that hit home everywhere, South Park has locked its spot in TV history as a show that doesn’t say sorry for getting a reaction, making us laugh and mad all at once.
Written By Nidhi Singh