“South Park’s” hour-long “Pandemic Special,” which aired Wednesday night on Comedy Central was a huge let down. Instead of sticking to their equal-opportunity brand of comedy, South Park’s writers made a cowardly decision to spare Black Lives Matter and the rest of the so-called “peaceful protesters” from criticism. For “South Park” fans looking for a comedic escape from their lockdown boredom, the “special” left one feeling more downcast than when you turned it on.
The decision is unfortunate because “South Park” is funny precisely because they are unafraid. They made millions of dollars and fans by going after everyone and everything. By cowering to the woke peer pressure, the show became a one-sided mess and proved that in BLM, South Park has finally met their match.
In all fairness, there were a few funny moments, like when Cartman, known for being lazy, sings “how much I love you and need you social distancing,” because he can wear pajamas all day and doesn’t have to go to school in person or be around people anymore. He happily carries around a 6-foot pole to keep others away from him and in a dreaded Zoom class, he pretends his reception is bad by speaking in broken English. To Cartman’s delight, his teacher gives him permission to simply listen to class “again.” A lot of kids can relate!
In another scene mocking the confusing and contradicting messages coming from government health agencies, Randy asks his wife if they know anyone who has COVID-19. Randy’s wife reminds him that her brother, Jimbo, has COVID-19, and Randy points out that Jimbo, “is a fat alcoholic,” who would be in the hospital even if he didn’t have COVID-19. This is a clear reference to CDC data that shows the majority of people who died from COVID-19 had pre-existing conditions and the many stories that have emerged questioning the way COVID-19 cases have been counted.
Like Cartman, the show wouldn’t touch the riots or the Black Lives Matter movement with a 6-foot pole. Despite the rioting and the looting all summer long, the writers never mention it except for a scene where the townspeople are congregating and Mr. Stotch asks “are we looting or rioting”. Instead, “South Park” chose the predictable and politically correct route of going after a much easier target, law enforcement.
When the teachers refused to teach because of fears of contracting COVID-19, the school was forced to hire the newly defunded South Park police force. On the cops’ first day on the job as teachers, they begin shooting at the children in order to calm the classroom down. Token, a black student, is shot in the arm and the chief of police holds up his fist and says “we got him,” reinforcing the “cops are bad and racist” narrative from BLM.
This could have been funny had South Park’s writers also taken aim at the so-called “peaceful protesters” who provided much more fodder for humor with the ridiculous creation of CHOP and the fact that most of the rioters causing trouble are woke, white liberals in Lululemon leggings. They could have hit on the insane corporate sponsorship of BLM, or the irony of rich Silicon Valley oligarchs funding the destruction of poor and middle class neighborhoods from the comfort of their gated communities and mansions protected by private security forces. Another missed opportunity.
By the end of the episode the town devolves into utter chaos. To bring law and order to South Park, the mayor writes an executive order giving the cops all the “teacher” resources they need (OK, that was funny!). Unfortunately, this was an all-too short moment of effective humor. It was treated as a fleeting side note, and the writers, as if sensing BLM’s reaction, immediately went back to their savage cop narrative with crazed officers excitedly pulling up in tanks to shoot and kill innocent children.
Mr. Garrison, who is meant to represent President Donald Trump, made an appearance too. In “South Park,” the president is a lunatic who wants the pandemic to continue because he “made a promise to the American people to get rid of all the Mexicans.” Mr. Garrison thinks the pandemic is doing a good job of killing off “the Mexicans,” which is why he explains to the children he will “actively not do anything” to stop the spread of COVID-19. He even kills a scientist with a blowtorch who was holding the pangolin that was supposedly the key to fighting the pandemic.
“South Park” has a history of refusing to bow to the PC crowd, and have been rightfully praised for being absolute bad asses in the face of American cancel culture. While comedy in America has been watered down by the super woke and sensitive fun-killers, “South Park” has always stayed refreshingly unfiltered. South Park has gone to war to save comedy against Jeff Bezos, Disney, transgenderism, Islamic radicals, and even the Chinese Communist Party.
However, this unfunny pandemic special proves even South Park can’t stand up to the cultural power and bullying of Black Lives Matter. Making fun of law enforcement is easy these days. The truly courageous and funny topic to harp on would be the hypocrisy of the “peaceful protesters” who managed to enlist the media as apologists for their massive Covid-spreading riots and violent destruction of American cities. When reporter after reporter tells us that they are “mostly peaceful” protests with a burning city behind them, the lines practically write themselves.
I turned on “South Park” for comic relief from the stressful and life-altering pandemic, but their cowardice rendered their special confusing, unfunny, and depressing — exactly like the last six months of shut down.
