‘South Park’ Takes On School Shootings In Season 22 Premiere
- Funny
- Offensive
Comedic Complacency
September 25th, 2018 – South Park is hurling its 22nd season out the door on Wednesday with an episode titled “Dead Kids.” The Comedy Central hit hasn’t been shy about addressing the issues of the day, and sadly school shootings became an issue on many, many days over the past year.
The show’s press release gives a fairly low-key description of the premiere episode saying:
“Randy is desperate to help Sharon get her emotions under control and Cartman unexpectedly fails his math test.”
“Sharon is overreacting to everything these days and Randy can’t cope.”
In the teaser clip, fans see even more unassuming attitudes toward Sharon’s reactions. We find the Marsh family having dinner, talking about their son’s day, and having trouble deciding if the important topic Sharon wants to discuss is the math test Stan failed or the school shooting he survived.
“Oh yeah. Some kid shot up the school,” Stan finally recalls after further prodding from his mother. “Who shot up the school?” Randy asks before drilling his son with another question. “Was it you?” After quickly finding out that his son wasn’t the shooter or a victim, he moves on to the more pressing problem. “Now what’s this about you failing a math quiz.”
While no other footage has been released, people seem to already have a taste for what they’re going to get from the full episode. They’re also realizing why Comedy Central chose “#cancelsouthpark” for their marketing strategy.
I have a feeling that people are going to be more outraged about the #Southpark school shooting episode than actual kids getting shot and killed. #CancelSouthpark
— Jaqi 🏳️🌈 (@ProjectLuIIaby) September 25, 2018
This would seem to help explain why Comedy Central went with #CancelSouthPark as its promotional hashtag for the show’s new season https://t.co/E6J5iPdR4N
— Splitsider (@Splitsider) September 24, 2018
FINALLY!! SOUTH PARK IS BACK TO KICK THE NATION IN THE NUTS AGAIN!!! #southpark22 https://t.co/5YVCtdbVm5
— israel garcia (@badcomic01) September 24, 2018
THEYRE MAKING A SCHOOL SHOOTING EPISODE OMGFHDGDGSG AND BUTTERS AND CARTMAN Are THE SHOOTERS THEY REALLY WANNA GET SOUTH PARK CANCELLED
— ً (@666kyum) September 24, 2018
Last season, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone opened the season by targeting white supremacists and mocking the alt-right’s rally in Charlottesville. They clearly didn’t get canceled after that decision, so maybe South Park knows what it’s doing.
Watch “Dead Kids” in its entirety Wednesday, September 26 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central.