Every Banned ‘South Park’ Episode, Ranked From Least to Most Controversial
Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the hit adult animated series South Park has thrived as an entirely uncompromising, socially scorching, and often shocking satire on the trends and ideals of the modern world. Given the series’ focus, its penchant for crude yet sharply observational humor, and the ravenous appetite of Parker and Stone to push the boundaries of acceptability with their every daring decision, South Park has amassed a certain reputation for controversy, one that has regularly led to public outcry, celebrity blow-back, religious scorn, and even very real threats of violent retaliation.
Given the series, as of the date of publication, consists of 26 seasons and a staggering 328 episodes—all of which are astonishingly produced by the creative team the week that they air—it is perhaps surprising that more South Park episodes haven’t been banned. In fact, one suspects that Parker and Stone themselves may be somewhat disappointed by the fact that only six episodes of their skewering series have been deemed so dangerously irreverent, socially harmful, and explosively offensive that they have earned genuine bans from television broadcast and streaming, and physical distribution. Ranging from the culturally insensitive to the seditiously sacrilegious, these episodes represent South Park at its most controversial.
- Release Date
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August 13, 1997
- Network
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Comedy Central
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Liane Cartman / Wendy Testaburger / Mrs. Crabtree (voice)
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Kyle Broflovski / Kenny McCormick (voice)
4
“An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig”
Season 1, Episode 5 (1997)
To be perfectly honest, as much as the mention of banned South Park episodes may inspire an air of curious dread and a wicked anticipation of utter debauchery, “An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig” isn’t too confronting, at least, not by South Park’s standards of what controversial can be. Given episodes containing egregious criminal acts, unapologetic slights on all manner of religious faiths, and even coverage of very real societal taboos have aired without a hitch, the fifth episode of Season 1 seems particularly hard done by. It sees the boys attempting to coerce Kyle’s pet elephant to crossbreed with Cartman’s pet pig so that they can submit a winning entry in the school science project as the class studies genetic engineering. All the while, Stan suffers ongoing physical abuse at the hands of his irritable older sister.
Interestingly, it wasn’t anything deemed to be offensive or uncouth in the episode’s content that saw it banned, but rather what the network feared it could inspire. The episode’s subplot includes a scene in which Stan is set on fire by Shelley. Fearful of a repeat of a horrific case in 1993 in which a five-year-old started a fatal house-fire after mimicking a moment from an episode of Beavis and Butthead they watched, the South Park episode was withheld from airing and heavily censored. While it was eventually screened, made available on DVD, and can even be viewed on streaming, “An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig” remains the only episode in South Park history to have been banned for reasons not relating to religious issues.
3
“Super Best Friends”
Season 5, Episode 3 (2001)
Interestingly, “Super Best Friends” initially aired with little to no immediate controversy and even remained in South Park’s re-run cycle for a number of years. It wasn’t until the release of the infamous “200” (which will be addressed shortly) that the Season 5 episodes faced any backlash. It sees the four boys so immersed by a street magic show performed by David Blaine during his visit to South Park that they happily become members of the cult of Blaintology with the hopes of learning how to perform their own tricks. Stan soon grows disturbed by the cult’s intensity and direction, leading him to turn to Jesus Christ for help (not South Park‘s first foray into religion). Unable to best the stage magician alone, Jesus summons the Super Best Friends, a group of religious figures and leaders from various faiths united by their stance against evil.
The episode first garnered some attention for its depiction of Muhammad in the wake of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. However, it wasn’t until the screening of later episodes “200” and “201”—which incited threats of violence and even murder on the basis of the depiction of Muhammad—that “Super Best Friends” was taken down from the series’ website. Beyond this inflammatory religious point, the episode doesn’t contain an abundance of frightfully shocking material, though it does have its fair share of fun at the expense of several religious icons and historical figures.
2
“Cartoon Wars Part I” & “Cartoon Wars Part II”
Season 10, Episodes 3 & 4 (2006)
Perhaps the first South Park episodes to earn genuine notoriety upon release, Season 10’s two-episode “Cartoon Wars” arc enabled the series to lampoon fellow adult animated series Family Guy while directly addressing the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy and questions of censorship and artistic freedoms. The dual-episode story sees characters reacting to the shocking news that Family Guy is going to air a new episode that will depict the prophet Muhammad. Fueled by his disdain for the animated series, Cartman ventures to Hollywood hoping he can manipulate the situation and the apprehension of the episode’s premiere to convince Fox to pull the episode. Kyle argues to the president of Fox that the episode must run on schedule and uncensored as an exercise of free speech.
The promise of “Cartoon Wars” not only exploring such material, but actually depicting Muhammad, became something of a focal point in the lead-up to “Cartoon Wars: Part II,” one that Comedy Central erred on the side of caution, a decision that drew strong criticism from Parker and Stone. Interestingly, despite the episodes’ strong emphasis on religious retaliation and censorship, “Cartoon Wars” has become arguably even more famous for its mockery of Family Guy, a series Parker and Stone have expressed their disapproval of. As it stands, the two “Cartoon Wars” episodes are two of only five South Park episodes to have been axed from the series’ catalog when it transferred to HBO Max in 2020.
1
“200” & “201”
Season 14, Episodes 5 & 6 (2010)
Aptly named, “200” and “201” mark an important and significant milestone for South Park, serving as the series’ 200th and 201st episodes. Parker and Stone certainly celebrated the momentous occasion in trademark fashion, with the two-episode arc being both widely celebrated as one of South Park’s boldest and most brilliant installments and the series’ single most controversial and offensive chapter. An acknowledgment of the many celebrities the series has lampooned (and aggravated), it sees Tom Cruise lead a mob of famous figures planning to file a class action lawsuit against the town of South Park for the damage it has caused their careers. His agreement to drop the lawsuit if the people of South Park can facilitate a meeting for him with Muhammad leads to an increasingly chaotic web of hidden motives and inadvertently brings about the return of the Super Best Friends and the terror of Mecha-Streisand.
In the week leading up to the airing of “201,” the former radical Muslim organization Revolution Muslim stated that, were they to depict Muhammad in “201,” Parker and Stone could meet the same fate as murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. So intense was the fear of violent retribution, police presence at Comedy Central HQ was elevated significantly due to the nature of threats being made. As such, the episode was heavily censored when it aired. Additionally, the episodes’ depiction of Buddha snorting cocaine led to the entire series being banned in Sri Lanka. The handling of the episode—particularly Comedy Central’s caving in to the threats—sparked stern feedback from critics and industry professionals alike. “200” and “201” are among the five episodes unavailable on HBO Max.
