Just how offensive was South Park‘s “The F Word” episode this week? Well, they used the “fag” word a lot, which means it’s offensive enough for GLAAD to get upset about it!
Rather than directing their attention to next week’s Gossip Girl finale with a three-way (if it’s two girls and one guy, is The CW discriminating against men? Tell us, GLAAD!), the organization has issued one of its “Call to Action” alerts over the Comedy Central program. You see, the four main characters in South Park used the word “fag” (and “fuckin’ fag”) all throughout. Except they weren’t even talking about gays!
Instead, as you can tell from the very first scene of the episode (watch it here), they use “fag” to refer to guys who “ride a loud Harley up and down the streets ruining everyone’s nice time.” So what’s GLAAD upset about?
South Park is ruining the F-word!
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Writes the group: “Though this seems to represent a well-intentioned effort by the creators of South Park to delegitimize a vulgar anti-gay slur, the fact is that the word is and remains a hateful slur that is often part of the harassment, bullying and violence that gay people, and gay youth in particular, experience on a daily basis in this country. It is an epithet that has real consequences for real people’s lives. Just this year, an 11-year-old Massachusetts student named Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, unable to endure the unrelenting anti-gay bullying and name-calling he experienced at school, committed suicide.”
GLAAD, which refuses to write out “fag” in its newsletter, fears by using the F-word to insult anyone, kids today will start calling everything they’re annoyed with a “fag.”
Yeah. Only we should have that right.
Hey, we get GLAAD’s point: South Park might, in a Bruno-esque way, be condoning the use of the word (by young people!) and encouraging (young people!) to use it. As Stan explains it in the show, when you say the F-word, “You’re not thinking, ‘Oh, he’s a homosexual.” You’re thinking, ‘Oh, he’s an inconsiderate douchebag like a Harley rider.'” And that could offend some folks!
But South Park is an equal opportunity offender: Women, blacks, the disabled, and yes, even homos, are the subjects of ridicule, but not usually at their expense, but society’s. Then again, it’s time to play this game: Replace the F-word with the N-word, and think about whether this is acceptable television.
FakeName
Wow Queerty, way to pick a side on this one.
Brian (The Original)
Finally, something for GLAAD to do. They do have to justify spending $30 million a year. But, errrr attacking an attempt to diminish the relevance of the word “fag?”
Remind me why we donate money to GLAAD. Please.
LittleBigBoy
How about some editorial ‘research’. “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson” #1101 did use the ‘N-word’
Jake the libertarian
I saw the episode. I thought it was funny. I am not going to get my panties in a bunch over it. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are gay friendly but they lampoon extremes in society. If you are particularly sensitive, I strong recommend that you stay away from South Park.
cgd
south park:
well-meaning useful idiots of homophobia
or
opportunistic glibertarian jerks?
probably both.
Cinci Chris
My brother was telling me about this yesterday, and I thought it sounded hilarious. I’m down for “fag” referring to bikers that ride up and down streets and ruin everyone’s good time.
Andrew
When we don’t respond to the use of the F-word – we will have arrived.
GLAAD is a waste of our money.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
If it’s ok for hets to throw around anti-gay slurs, why is it not ok for hets to vote to take away our right to equal marriage?
walt
One of the messages I got was that most people would be too chicken to walk up to a biker and call him a fag. So it points out the cowardice of using it to harangue a (percieved) weaker person.
Grey
GLAAD has a $30 million annual budget? Seriously??? I’ve worked for nonprofits, I’ve served on the Board of Directors for nonprofits, but never any with a budget anywhere close to $2 million, much less $30M. For what? Seriously, the work they do (monitoring the media, sending out action alerts, building up the membership to have a larger pool of advocates, occasionally having face-to-face meetings with decision-makers) all could be done for a fraction of that amount of money.
KevinVancouver
I concur with littlebigboy, the Jesse Jackson episode used the N word throughout… and mostly by Stan’s father.. It was a brilliant episode!!
HiredGoons
There are much more productive uses of my time than worrying about South Park episodes.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
and mostly by Stan’s father
But here’s the thing, Stan’s dad is a dumbass, therefore only a dumbass would use racist slurs. However, Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Eric are suppose to be the smart ones and they routinely use anti-gay slurs, which reinforces in viewers minds that it’s ok to use anti-gay slurs and call things one doesn’t like “gay”. Matt Stone has stated that this is a show for kids and young adults. He has also stated that using anti-gay slurs is the way “kids” talk, therefore he’s justified in using anti-gay slurs.
This is nothing more than grown men acting like spoiled brats and getting away with it.
And next time we bitch and moan that hets are taking away our rights, just remember hos popular South Park is with “South Park Republicans”
Tommy
As I’ve told friends, South Park can do no wrong because they’re equal opportunists when it comes to proving a point while simultaneous insulting an entire group of people. To Trey Parker and Matt Stone, there is no minority in need of protecting and there is no majority in need of deference.
And that’s the way the world should be.
And for that, I’ll be watching this week’s South Park and laughing my ass off.
hardmannyc
Shark meet GLAAD. GLAAD, meet shark. Jump, GLAAD, jump!
GLAAD has now officially jumped the shark.
mcvicyc
As someone from England where we don’t use the word fag as an insult to homosexuals, I think all your controversy is crazy.
The reason for that is, Matt Stone and Trey Parker were actually trying to remove the Anti-Gay connotations from the word. Then all People do is bitch and moan on the internet. I think their way of dealing with stupidity in society is brilliant, they target audiences that wouldn’t otherwise be met. The people that come on the internet and bitch and moan about these derogative words, are the people that give those derogative words power. What people need to remember are they are just words and if no one cared about them, those words wouldn’t be able to cause any offence.
With the exception to the N Word, that shouldn’t be said and Southpark make that very clear.
I personally thought the episode was hilarious!!!
Victor
As a gay man, I am increasingly disgusted with South Park’s use of the word “fag.” It is as offensive to me as the word “nigger” is to black people.
At a time when gays in America do not possess the same, equal rights that heterosexual have, this kind of hate-speech from South Park is unwelcome and inflammatory. I guess Matt & Trey won’t get it until some brave gay freedom fighter puts a bullet through their God-damned wing-nut heads.
hardmannyc
^^^^ So they use the word “nigger” as frequently. Did you ever watch Dave Chappell’s show? He uses the “n” word continually. But hey, suggesting someone shoot them is definitely a step toward tolerance!
Jeremy Feist
I think it was just bad timing more than anything. It might be a little too soon for people to forget about the anti-gay connotations of the word ‘Fag’, but ultimately I think the word is taking the path that South Park predicts: It won’t mean ‘gay’, it’ll mean ‘annoying and uncaring person’. The meanings of words change all the time, so maybe this is South Park’s way of taking it away from hateful assholes and instead using it to describe hateful assholes as annoying and uncaring people. Hell, at the end of the episode the day is saved by South Park’s gay community because they realize that words will essentially only mean what you want them to. Granted, people still want ‘Fag’ to mean ‘Gay people’, but at least people are working to eliminate that context.
cgd
South Park is like a year-round NOM ad.
The reason we lost marriage equality in Maine and California was because the haters said the scary old government was going to teach kids about gay marriage and gay sex in school. This is part of a general reactionary backlash to “evil” PC indoctrination by liberals. That’s the effing plot of the South Park episode Death Camp of Tolerance. Read the plot yourself on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_Camp_of_Tolerance
The show is a reactionary’s self-soiling nightmare, with uptight, PC-bound progressives as the butt of the joke.
Hell, all NOM has to do is show that episode for every future ballot campaign.
Gregoire
The only reason this was controversial is because it aired the day after the Maine election, i.e. Maine calling us all FAGGOTS.
reluctantcommenter
i watched the episode, and i thought it was pretty funny as a concept; i hate loud motorcycles.
but i don’t know if i agree with their point. kids might use the word fag as a catch-all for any and every loser without being homophobic, but i think the connection between the word fag and loser ultimately stems from homophobia.
when someone acts like a douchebag, calling them a fag is an easy way to shut them up, but only because it plays on (some) people’s fear of being associated with anything gay.
if some people really are trying to divorce fag from it’s homophobic definition, i guess it hasn’t been long enough since that word was directed at me for being gay, for me to hear it and not immediately think it’s a anti-gay insult.
but if even a twinge of anti-gay sentiment is what ultimately gives the term ‘fag’ the force it needs to be effectively insulting, how can we not take offense to it?
Mr. Enemabag Jones
It’s controversial because hets are trying to well us what anti-gay slurs “should” mean. It’s like when Stone and Parker trotted out Big Gay All to tell all us queers that in America people should be able to discriminate against whom ever they choose, and that includes the Boy Scouts excluding gays–and fictional cartoon character voiced by straight actor is ok with that. They brought out Mr. Garrison to tell us that people don’t have to accept gays, that we should be greatful that hets “tolerate” us–and fictional cartoon character voiced by straight actor is ok with that. Do you see a pattern?
Two hets pontificating on things that do not effect them. All this does is give anti-gay hets the idea that it’s fine to deny us equal marriage; discrimination protection; and service in the military, because other straight people say it’s ok.
Essentially every South Park argument on homosexuality comes down to, “Take what we give you and be greatful.”
Thanks, but no thanks Matt and Trey.
reluctantcommenter
also, i seriously doubt south park was allowed to air an episode containing the ‘N-word’ unedited. i remember watching that episode, but i don’t remember if they ‘bleeped’ the word or not.
side note: i would be fully on board with using the word ‘fag’ to refer to tony perkins et al. faggy gallagher.
Alexander
This episode was hilarious. It was not homophobic, not hateful, and anyone who thinks so is simply too dense to understand the point of the whole joke. The only “fag” is offensive is if you ALLOW yourself to be offended. If someone calls you a fag, you have three options: ignore them, punch them, or cry about it until GLAAD or some other nebulous body of well-meaning but worthless people give you attention. Either grow a thicker skin or stand up for yourselves, gays. Really.
cgd
@25 Luckily, the US government no longer sees it your way, and we have a hate crimes law now that includes us.
Brian NJ
Good luck with getting Cartman and Stan into sensitivity training. Anyway, I saw the episode. It was a poignant and sophisticated satire on the use of the word “fag.” Those fags at GLAAD should really see it.
cgd
From the brain trust that brought you:”Michael Moore = Donald Rumsfeld”
Parker: A big key to us is that we both grew up in Colorado in the ’80s, and we wanted to be punk rockers. When you were a teenager in Colorado, the way to be a punk rocker was to rip on Reagan and Bush and what they were doing and talk about how everyone in Colorado’s a redneck with a gun and all this stuff. Then we went to the University of Colorado at Boulder, and everyone there agreed with us. And we were like, “Well, that’s not cool, everyone agrees with us.” And then you get to Los Angeles. The only way you can be a punk in Los Angeles is go to a big party and go, “You can say what you want about George Bush, but you’ve got to admit, he’s pretty smart.” People are like, “What the fuck did he just say? Get him out of here!”
Reason: So what is it that you hate about liberals? Can you boil it down to a consistent impulse, and then a consistent impulse among conservatives?
Parker: Wow, that’s a good question.
Stone: I’ve never thought about that.
Parker: To some degree, South Park has a simple formula that came from the very first episode [“The Spirit of Christmas,” which featured Jesus and Santa fighting over who owned the holiday]. There was Jesus on this side and there was Santa on this side, there’s Christianity here and there’s Christmas commercialism here, and they’re duking it out. And there are these four boys in the middle going, “Dude, chill out.” It’s really what Team America is as well: taking an extremist on this side and an extremist on that side. Michael Moore being an extremist is just as bad, you know, as Donald Rumsfeld. It’s like they’re the same person. It takes a fourth-grade kid to go, “You both remind me of each other.” The show is saying that there is a middle ground, that most of us actually live in this middle ground, and that all you extremists are the ones who have the microphones because you’re the most interesting to listen to, but actually this group isn’t evil, that group isn’t evil, and there’s something to be worked out here.
http://reason.com/archives/2006/12/05/south-park-libertarians/print
pleabody
i wonder if the jew creators of south park ever say KIKE?
vernonvanderbilt
@Pleabody
Yep. I’ve heard the word dozens of times on the show.
SoylentDIva
South Park trashes everyone and everything. They’ve only bowed down to one demand to not air/replay a show, and that was when the $cientologists got their panties in a bunch. Otherwise they tell anybody who complains to, essentially, f*ck off. But they’re pretty much equal-opportunity when it comes to eviscerating people/groups and don’t just pick on one side of the fence or the other so I’ll give them that much….
Attmay
I never watch South Park, but I’m more offended by the shit that received GLAAD’s seal of approval.
chris
So I’m guessing nobody saw the ‘Nigger guy’ episode of South Park?
Where the US congress banned the word ‘Nigger guy’ because it was deemed offensive to white people who used the word nigger?
This is what South Park does folks.
Everybody from upper class white dudes, to blue collar women are inslulted here.
Me
While I get the satire (and sometimes total lack thereof) on South Park, the sad fact is a lot of the show’s core audience is, frankly, too stupid to even fully enjoy it. That said, sometimes they go a bit too far in my opinion. But I wouldn’t censor them, I would look to finding ways to counter balance what is being shown. Instead of issuing statements that never trickle down to the masses, instead remaining only in the ghetto of gay culture, GLAAD should try to take a more proactive approach.
alan brickman
South Park offends everyone equally..deal with it..
Brian (The Original)
Grow up. GLAAD shouldn’t police comedians. In fact, they shouldn’t police anyone. GLAAD is a waste of $30 million a year.
jason
Why doesn’t South Park use the word “breeder”? I’d like to see that.
Disgusted American
If South Park ONLY said this stuff about gays – Id be pissed…but they make fun of everybody – so I do NOT have a problem with it.
Miss Understood
Fighting bigotry should not be a word game. Intentions are important, not words uttered in the context of a joke or a satirical script. It’s like getting mad at Normal Lear over Achie bunker’s racism.
straight to the point
I’m straight as an arrow, use the word “gay” to refer to things that I think are undesirable, use the word fag to refer to someone who does something I find objectionable or off-putting…
and I think it’s okay.
Why?
Because I say things like “you voted to ban gay marriage? what a fag!”
but… i use the word jewish to refer to friends who are tight with money…
remember… there’s also terms we use against our own… “mighty white of you”… “honky”… “redneck” and several others.
as far as I’m concerned, it’s better to err on the side of using the language that best expresses what you feel.
Marcus
Alexander – So if I called you a dumbass fucking moron who needs to go jump under a truck because your mother should have had an abortion and saved the world the trouble of dealing with your retarded ass…
You shouldn’t be offended, right? Just walk away. Don’t allow yourself to be offended, that’s just crying.
Brian NJ
On the surface, South Park looks like a dumb show. But if you watch it, and the episode in question, it can be a remarkable satire. They didn’t use the word “fag” in this show for the purpose of disparaging gays, they were satirizing the concept that in some contexts kids will use the word and think they are not being offensive to gays, and how completely comfortable some kids are with the word. I found their extreme comfort with the word very very funny.
When confronted by school officials, the kids said, “You mean gay fags?” “Why would we mean gay fags?” I thought the episode was brilliant, and want to see the creators of South Park make more satire with gay and gender issues. Sometimes the show seems to be making fun of its viewers, too, by showing stereotypes of gays and lesbians, dangerously toying with the question of whether or not the viewer thinks the character could be a real person.
It a very risky, cutting edge satire. The gay community needs much much more of it, not less. By only examining the show superficially, GLAAD made the common mistake of missing the meaning of the show. People typically do this with the Simpsons, too.
Robert, NYC
Whether “fag” is used disparagingly or not, a derogatory term no matter how you try to skew it, how about using the “N” word using the same excuse that its not disparaging and see the reaction that would get, both are deplorable. Don’t be so dismissive, Queerty. There are hundreds of thousands of kids being bullied in school yards who are on the receiving end of that term and it hurts, they don’t find it so funny when they’re driven to suicide because of the “fag” taunts, neither do I. Words have consequences. There is nothing humorous in dehumanizing someone with a slur, no matter the context. If you give license to a comedy show to use such slurs, then you lose the argument when ball players do it as we’ve seen recently. It does nothing more than promote homophobia, unintentionally or not.
cgd
@41
It would be hysterical that you think GLAAD doesn’t get what they’re saying, except the consequences are tragic. I don’t even think it’s a failure to satirize those who claim fag is now nonhomophobic (for evidence of the satire failure, look at comment #25 above) on South Park’s part. I think they’re trying to have it both ways, play to both sides, just as in Parker and Stone’s politics.
Read the GLAAD article
http://glaadblog.org/2009/11/05/south-park-tries-and-fails-to-redefine-the-f-word/
Though the writers of South Park attempted to craft a commentary on the shifting meaning of words, the fact of the matter is that the F-word is and remains a hateful slur that is often the last word heard by LGBT people as they fall victim to hate crimes. Just this year, 11-year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover of Massachusetts hung himself, unable to endure further anti-gay bullying at school which included constant use of the F-Word.
South Park was right on one point: all too commonly, more and more people are using the F-word as a seemingly benign insult, unaware or unconcerned about the word’s anti-gay meaning. However, the spread of the word in this manner does not make it okay to use. Mickey Rourke and Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson recently learned this lesson as GLAAD reiterated the need for all uses of this slur to end.
GLAAD encourages you to contact Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, as well as Comedy Central, to share your personal stories of the negative impact the F-word and other anti-gay slurs have had on your life. It is important that the people behind South Park realize that the F-word is not just a harmless insult; it is a hateful word with often violent consequences.
South Park Studios Official Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/southpark. (You will have to become a “fan” in order to leave a message.)
cgd
in number 43 I meant, “look at comment #24 above”
scott ny'er
omg. Bigger foes have tried to get South Park to stop and have failed. If anyone thinks that their personal story will have some kind of influence on the South Park creators, I think they are mistaken.
Seriously, they take on everyone and everything. Have you seen their depictions of JLo, Ben Affleck, Babs, Brian Boitano, S&M, etc. The lists go on.
Sure, it might be worth a try but I think it’s futile based on their past history.
John NYC
What a dumb waste of money. GLAAD is useless. I wish we could use their $30 million a year to fight for equality. That would be much more be helpful than attacking cartoon characters.
Fitz
We have plenty of real things to go after— this is irrelevant.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
straight to the point
I’m straight as an arrow, use the word “gay” to refer to things that I think are undesirable, use the word fag to refer to someone who does something I find objectionable or off-putting and I think it’s okay.
Because you’re straight. Most straight people think it’s ok to use anti-agy lsurs because they have never heard them just before being beatne half to death.
Why?
Because you’re ignorant.
Because I say things like “you voted to ban gay marriage? what a fag!”
Howabout next time saying, “You should vote for gay marriage” before the vote actrually takes place. It’s far more productive.
but i use the word jewish to refer to friends who are tight with money
Yeah, but you don’t use the word kike, or hebe.
remember there’s also terms we use against our own “mighty white of you” “honky” “redneck” and several others.
Actually, “mighty white of you” was a considered a compliment towards blacks when a white person thought they had done something decent. It’s never been a slur against whites; it was a backhanded compliment to blacks.
as far as I’m concerned, it’s better to err on the side of using the language that best expresses what you feel.
So when one of your friends is doing something thugish, you call them a nigger
Brian NJ
@CDG
I read your article. I will will contact them. But it will be to tell them not to be intimidated by the likes of you, who simply could not grasp that the episode is useful, purposeful satire that aids understanding of the gay community. The word “fag” was used many many times in the episode to make a satirical point about the over-use of the word, and about language and heresy itself.
I am not comfortable with a word-banning approach. Banning words can work just as well against minorities just as easily as it can work for it. Media should be held accountable only for content, not words that groups have decided should be banned from the lexicon. It is always the use of language, not the words, that GLAAD must focus on. In this episode of South Park, the word “fag” was illuminating on the issue of the blind use of words. In the manner that show is crafted, there is simply no better way to illustrate the point. And the show was superb. Anyone who thinks that South Park has not been a tool for illuminating issues of bigotry has to be out of their mind.
Targeting South Park is a kind of cultural bigotry, too. They are useful satirists, and I love their approach. Please leave a seat for them at one of your snobby dinners.
Brian NJ
@CDG
I wrote the creators of South Park:
Dear South Park:
I am a member of the gay community, and I am so thankful that South Park exists that I want to cry. I could kill GLAAD for targeting your satire, and I find your show highly illuminating on issues relating to gays and trans-gendered people. I am crushed that they are trying to pay “ban the word” with you, when the use of the word was a glorious and literate exposition of issues surrounding this word. You have been very good to the gays, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. If I ran GLAAD I would throw you a big fancy dinner.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxo
Merv
I can’t believe how many people here have bought into the lie that Matt and Trey are equal opportunity offenders. They’re not. They have said repeatedly that they hate liberals more than conservatives. In their universe, killing thousands of innocent Iraqis for a pointless war is a lesser crime than being a little too strident for their taste in objecting to it. No wonder they are beloved by the freepers. Go to freerepublic.com and you’ll see that they’re worshipped over their. They even live blog every episode.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
I could kill GLAAD for targeting your satire
Stay classy, Brian NJ.
You may never have equal marriage rights in Jersey, but at least you have South Park.
Nick
Parker and Stone totally knew that fag still had connection to gay when ever the used it. The park when the boys say the word “bike-curious” is the term used to refer to people who are thinking about using bikes but haven’t yet. That’s a total play on “bi-curious”. So that totally hurts their argument that the word is no longer associated with things gay related. Also when people say they used the word “nigger” and anti-Semitic speech, they never took it to the extent they took the word “fag”. The episode when they kept using the word “nigger”, that was to deal with the stigma associated with the word and how people deal with it. And a lot of the anti-Semitic speech is done manly by cartmen who’s an anti-Semite.
I honestly don’t think South Park is homophobic, but they don’t actually have the best gay record. They haven’t treated their gays they way they have treated Kyle or Token. Kyle’s family isn’t really rich and they don’t have big noses or any obvious Jewish stereotypes, and Token’s family’s rich and doesn’t use stereotypical black slang to talk. However Mr(s). Garison, Mr. Slave and Big Gay Al are all fem, Mr. Slave and Big Gay Al all have lips and they all come off as total bottoms (jk). I’d like to see them actually have a main gay who’s not a stereotype.
I don’t get offended easily, and I laugh at non-PC jokes, but I don’t think I have to support two white heteros who trying to change the meaning of the word so they can still use it. Sure words in languages change, I mean hell that’s how we got French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. from Latin. But honestly with the way that people are a lot more educated, literate words aren’t gonna change as fast as they did in the past.
One last thing, “fag” meaning gay is American slang, so I get that the Brits are not offended, but why question why we are offended? If South Park was showed in Britain using the word poof, or batty-boy instead of fag I think you guys would get your knickers in a knot too over it. Sure we both have the same language, but fuck, we can’t even spell color the same.
Robert, NYC
Victor, I agree. I don’t give a damn in which context “fag” is used,endorsing it just because other minorities are targeted doesn’t make it right. What it does to the average undereducated youth in our schools today is that its a slur, a taunt and hurtful. That’s why the school yard bullies use it, to them its not only funny but extremely painful and they know it when they prey on gay kids struggling to come out, some of whom take their lives because of it. Gay children have the highest rate of suicide in this country among other children of that age group. I don’t find any humor in that or any other comedic situation. It gives license to the unsophisticated bullies to go out and commit violent crimes. I wonder if Matthew Shepherd’s mother would agree with most of you who endorse the slur in a humorous context? Only two weeks ago, a mature gay man was savagely beaten up on a New York City street, not that far from where I live. His perpetrators found great humor in calling him a “fag” multiple times while kicking and punching him unconscious. How many more times do we have to see that happen? As it is, hate crimes against LGBT people is up. Maybe I’m old fashioned and yes, I do have a sense of humor, but this is not a constructive way to lessen homophobia. Even words spoken in jest have consequences. You’re walking a fine line when you start endorsing this kind of expression in a t.v. comedy, no matter who the groups are being targeted. How many of you would not be offended if someone on the street called you a “fag” out of nowhere? You mean to say you’re that thick skinned you wouldn’t be offended, you’d find it humorous? What if your employer used it in jest?
Beatrice
dude, this episode was fucking awesome. south park is hilarious and smart. the whole point of this episode was that words are fucking stupid. they are just words and nothing more. people give them meaning. people change the meaning as well. my sister is a fag and who ever complains about this is too. nigger is another ugly word but its just a stupid fucking word. how bout together… nigger fag. oh wait, lets include myself… nigger fag spic cunt. its so beautiful. i love it. everyone interprets this shit differently. we will never change everyones point of view. thats what should be excepted.
Nick
“my sister is a fag adn who ever complains about this is too”, so your sister is gay (homosexual) and whoever complains is gay (homosexual) too? lol Man that word changed a lot hasn’t it?
hand
@ Nick
Kyle’s family is definitely based partly on Jewish stereotypes…
oh and South Park is hilarious and awesome.
Stop Bitching
South Park isn’t trying to hurt anyone by making this show… Stone & Parker are trying to stir up controversy. They want a reaction from their viewers but they couldn’t care less whether the reaction is good or bad. They themselves crave attention. Otherwise they would not have made the show. Why do you think they talk about people who crave attention? They have always done this the only difference is that they are only now coming out and saying it. When you watch an episode of South Park, why do you think the 4th grade children are portrayed to be smarter than everyone else. Because children dont really care about kike, nigger, fag, chink, etc. But adults do. so much to the point that they start wars, sue people and form groups such as GLAAD. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are really just trying to say that everyone is an idiot. besides people younger than the fourth grade. because of the fact that we feed on each others hate. They want us to argue with each other. And because of all you idiots arguing on this page, South Park will continue to be successful. Good Job!!! FAGS
John NYC
Gee Whiz. What is GLAAD? A bunch of “fags?”
Patrick
I appreciate what South Park was trying to do with his episode. I have a love/hate relationship with South Park to begin with. I know that their schtick is to be politically incorrect in order to satire certain cultural debates and issues. Fair enough. However, I think this one was off (as are around half of their new episodes). As a 19-year-old I know firsthand what people refer to when they say the word “fag” and I can say that it is almost exclusively gay men. Growing up, if I was referred to as a “fag” (before I came out) it meant that I did something weak, unmanly and, ultimately “gay.” Don’t get it confused, when heterosexuals say fag they mean “qualities we think gay men have.” Even if they mean, “lame” or a synonym, the picture in their minds is a nelly queer. The word fag as become applicable to many non-gay segments of the population but that doesn’t mean that the core definition has changed. When I hear fag, I still think “This person hates me because I’m gay” and until gay people stop perceiving that, it will be a derogatory word which is not acceptable in a mainstream lexicon.
Willard in Ohio
“But South Park is an equal opportunity offender.”
This is completely untrue. The left gets smeared hundreds of times over for every insult at the right. How many times have we seen a major right-wing figure lampooned? Other than the Catholic church, almost never, but left-leaning celebs and politicians get slammed over and over again.
Justin Case
Censoring “comedy?” No shit.
Stop being such victims. It’s time for GLAAD to go away.
hahaha
Wow, I can’t believe he had to end his article trying to persuade people that we can’t make these types of jokes because of the “N-Word.” It is this type of nonsense why this country can’t get over stereotypes, and racism, in the first place.
And yes, South Park already did the “N-word”. Remember don’t call him “nigger-guy.”
MD
i totally agree with “Jake the libertarian”.
Robert, NYC
Stop Bitching, so if 4th graders don’t give a damn about “fag”….then explain why hetero school kids bash gay students calling them “fags” and other derogatory, dehumanizing remarks resulting in some of them taking their lives? Would you be telling the victims to get over it and get used to it, its only a joke, they didn’t mean it? I find no humor in that as the perpetrators do, in or outside the context of South Park. Supporting this kind of humor emboldens the real haters out there and lessens the impact of hate crime legislation. The criminals who commit crimes against us will get away with it saying they were only joking when they called someone a “fag”, let alone beat them up or worse, kill them. Its bad enough the panic defense m.o. gets them off the hook.
Next time someone else gets bashed or killed as a result of unintended speech, and it will happen, make no mistake about that….I won’t expect others here to be outraged or upset about it. Fred Phelps will be jumping for joy, holding up his “God Hates Fags” banner, after all, its just a joke, its not meant to harm anyone.
romeo
@ Patrick #60: excellent post and to the point on this.
I, too, have a love/hate relationship with South Park. I’ve laughed my ass off at many of their shows, and Willard #61, they let the Mormons really have it too. But the fact remains, their stock gay characters that they use regularly are all grossly degraded and stereotypically nelly. I remember in their first season, they thought it was okay to kill a lesbian teacher, just because she was a lesbian teacher. After that episode, they began to moderate their tone a bit, but I don’t think they care much for us, just realized who a significant share of the audience would be for their type of humor.
I watch it because it’s funny, and other people and ideas get bashed as well. But I don’t have any illusions about those guys. They do low comedy very well, but they’re not particularly great thinkers, or human being either. They’re in it for the money.
Attmay
#67
Yet GLAAD had no problem with stereotypical shit like “Will & Grace” and “Queer as Folk”. Not to mention that awful movie where Adam Sandler and Kevin James are in a sham domestic partnership.
onewhoknows
If any of the persons on here thing South Park is worth watching, then this is not worth commenting on. The “F” word is derrogatory to my daughter. How about let’s attack pedophiles since there are so many in the world. Why not spend millions trying to catch all those people. Leave GLBTQ’s alone.
Andy McCarthy
Can I say something?
“Fag” holds a lot of negative connotations for me, and I think many people can agree that it’s an acerbic word to kids who grew up being called this.
Matt B
I saw the Nigger Guy episode of south park and thought it was funny, but I don’t feel like their argument was the same in this case. They weren’t arguing in that episode that people should be able to use the word nigger however they want. They were flipping the table on the thing to show how hurtful prejudice is. In this episode they seem to be telling gay people to ‘get over it’ and accept that the word is going to be used for whatever they want.
Personally I have friends who use fag randomly to refer to things that are in no way homosexual, but it still shocks me a bit and makes me question their tolerance.
Is this just my hang up? I know my friends to be tolerant and very gay friendly, but should I be offended that they aren’t more careful about their language? I mean…I’ve never once heard them use the word nigger for anything non-black. (and certainly not toward black people) Maybe they don’t think the words are comparable in their level of offense. I think it just depends on who is saying it and what their intention is, but as much as I try not to find it offensive, there’s still something about it that bothers me.
Luc R
It has always ment the same meaning to me as it does in the south park episode, ive been saying “fag” with the intent of meaning a “an inconsiderate douchebag” since i was in eighth grade or so, i am 24 now. Most kids also when i was around that age had ment it in the same way and was never used as a homosexual slur. As this is probably more common today for kids around that age range. To think that a word used by a generation ago is still trying to be hold onto as a slur word even by the people who would get offended by this is down right stupid. Times change quickly so get over it, its a better thing. As for the word faggot, i still feel this is a slur, but its in context. I say south park educated the masses on letting the older adults know what kids and younger adults are saying, so they dont think everyone is offensive to homosexuals.
cgd
@72 Would this be the same post-homophobia generation that uses “gay” to mean “mediocre, bad”?
Joey
Sometimes South Park gets it right, and sometimes they get it wrong. And this time they got it wrong.
Epic fail South Park. Massively epic fail.
Joey
@No. 71: Thanks for showing their complete hypocrisy: you shouldn’t say nigger because it’s offensive and blacks can’t get over it, but you should say fag because… well… because we said so and gays should get over it
vune
I had a friend who used the same logic with the word “nigger.” said that not every black person is a nigger, and that there are He white niggers out there, so it’s not a racist word and nobody should ever get upset. It was just as idiotic as the people who try to use fag & pretend that they’re gay friendly, or try to make the argument “Hey, don’t get mad, I don’t mean gay as in GAY, I just mean gay as in, like, the worst thing you could ever be!”
For the people who really don’t get it, I just ask that they not use that kind of language around me. If they love the word so much that they can’t even do that, the friendship isn’t worth it.
vune
Weird. Apparently the word “He” got moved in my last post. That second sentence should read “He said that not every black person is a nigger, and that there are white niggers out there, so it’s not a racist word and nobody should ever get upset.”
Chris
I agree with no. 61 Patrick on this. The argument that people do not connote homosexuality with the word “fag” is a very weak one.
Its easy to make a point on a TV show, because you have complete control over all circumstances. The thing is, though, that before South Park you would not hear many people calling bikers “fags.” I’m a college student, recently out of high school, and can also attest that the word is mostly used to harass guys (jokingly or not) who are not conforming with their frat-boy-type friends. The connotation with homosexuality is still present. The people who deny this are of three types: the cowardly ones who harbor prejudices but refuse to admit it, the ones who harbor prejudices and refuse to believe it, and the ones who are somehow totally oblivious to the fact that they are perpetuating these prejudices. It’s basically the same deal as those people who say “I have nothing against gays, but I don’t believe in gay marriage.” It’s people wanting to express a prejudice without being labeled a bad person themselves.
Sure, it’s just a word. But with the recent unbelievable repeals of marriage laws, the campaign for LGBT rights is unfortunately moving backwards, and we’re being marginalized yet again. If people don’t respect us enough not to recognize and drop the use of a slur (as if abandoning an insult is something painfully difficult), that doesn’t give us much hope for the future.
Law
Well I Would Just Like To Know Why You Bring The N Word Into It Since It Is Ok For Black People To Call Each Other N Word And White People Can Not, The Same Goes For The F Word Homosexuals Have Signs Pronouncing F Parties But If A Strait Person Uses It Its A Hate Crime. You Think I Like Being Called A Redneck Because I Am White And Now Live In Alabama ( which i have only been here a year) But Jeff Foxworthy Makes It Like It Is Nothing. Yes I Am Straight But I Have A Daughter With A Lesbian Couple And One Is A Performer @ Quote ” A FAG PARTY” Where I CAn Not Even Go To Spend Time With Them Because All Thier Friends Know Im Straight. Before You Go Blowing Up About Comedy Really Look At Yourself And What You Have Said And Things You Have Done. I Love My Lesbian And Gay Friends But Do Get The Reverse Hatred From Thier Friends Sayiong I Dont Belong Cause I’m Not A Fag. Before You Complain Learn Words Are Words And They Dont Define Us But Our Souls Do..
Jack Mackerel
“So when one of your friends is doing something thugish, you call them a nigger”
What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Better yet, where did he say that he calls his friends “nigger”? Please get your head out of your ass.
Jack Mackerel
“I guess Matt & Trey won’t get it until some brave gay freedom fighter puts a bullet through their God-damned wing-nut heads.”
You stay classy, Victor. Way to empower the gay movement.
ricky
i loved this episode. it weas funny and iunformative. loud harley riders are now fags. deal with it.
WTF
WTF – gay men were the heroes in this episode. When the fags on Harleys were terrorizing the town, they sacked up and ran them off with shotguns.
WTF
No 73:
Per your argument, whenever anyone says “lame” they’re clearly making an invidious comparison to people who are physically handicapped.
Right.
Robert, NYC
Chris, Andy…exactly what I was trying to bring out in my previous posts. Totally concur with you both.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
Jack Mackerel
What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Better yet, where did he say that he calls his friends “nigger”? Please get your head out of your ass.
Read the poster’s comment that I responded to, jackass. Please return your head back to your ass, Jack.
cgd
84: It’s not because of onomatopoeia that homophobes use “gay” to mean “weak” or “stupid”. So yeah, if you accept their comparison and echo it, I would call that invidious and homophobic. That’s their whole point.
Freddy Mercury
Walt (comment #9) nailed it on the head.
“One of the messages I got was that most people would be too chicken to walk up to a biker and call him a fag. So it points out the cowardice of using it to harangue a (percieved) weaker person.”
It is depressing how dumbed-down America has become that so many can’t even see the trees for the forest.
GLAAD! has made fools of themselves and everyone who has ever given them money or supported them.
THAT is depressing.
South Park, a low-resolution low-tech silly potty-humor cartoon on a 4th-rate cable network aimed at 20-something stoner kids, is apparently too subtle (and smart) for the average American of today to even get.
Depressing, we are all doomed.
Attmay
@88 Freddy Mercury:
“South Park, a low-resolution low-tech silly potty-humor cartoon on a 4th-rate cable network aimed at 20-something stoner kids, is apparently too subtle (and smart) for the average American of today to even get.”
“My Mother the Car” reruns are too smart for the average American to get.
The movie “Idiocracy” is going to come true, but it won’t be 500 years from now. It’ll be more like 50 to 75.
WTF
No 84:
Yes, and every time someone calls another person a dick they’re making an invidious and profoundly misandrist comparison to male genitalia.
Thankfully not all gays are as lame as you are.
cgd
90, I hope we both live long enough to see whether the next generations side more with you or me. I feel pretty good about my chances.
Jack Mackerel
Ah, Attmay, another of those idiots who slap their salami over that overrated movie. What sort of over-generalizations will the psuedo-intellectuals come up with?
Attmay
@ 92 Jack Mackerel:
These are not generalizations at all. Our government-run schools are idiot factories, but because of grade inflation kids who can barely read, write and add think they’re geniuses. We are falling behind other developed countries in terms of education. What passes for culture is stuff a monkey flings at onlookers at the zoo. When the government pisses on our head and says it’s raining, we get our umbrellas. Our collective attention span can be measured in seconds. We barely produce anything anymore other than piss, shit, garbage, and smoke because we’re too shiftless, lazy, and greedy and imbued with a sense of entitlement we don’t deserve. Our former industrial havens are one strangling regulation away from becoming ghost towns.
And you have the nerve to call me an idiot for appreciating an excellent film that apparently hit too close to home for you?
yeahyeahno
I just thought I’d mention this….
“If I turned around every time somebody called me a faggot, I’d be walking backward – and I don’t want to walk backward.”
– Harvey Milk, quoted in The Chronicle
Jack Mackerel
“We barely produce anything anymore other than piss, shit, garbage, and smoke because we’re too shiftless, lazy, and greedy and imbued with a sense of entitlement we don’t deserve.”
I’m going to guess you haven’t gone outside and read a publication lately.
“And you have the nerve to call me an idiot for appreciating an excellent film that apparently hit too close to home for you?”
Hurf durf, everyone’s an idiot except you! Keep trying to feed your ego by declaring everyone morons and idiots and blaming whatever scapegoat comes into reach, my deluded friend.
Biggest fan of Big Gay Al
The thought police is out in full force here. Hey lets punish people for using a word. Hey while we’re at it, lets ban ‘queer’, ‘gay’ and a whole bunch of other words someone might just take to mean ‘homosexual’.
I’ve been called ‘fag’ thousands of times probably but I just ignore it. Why? Because I can. To me the word ‘fag’ has long since lost its meaning.
GLAAD does not speak for me. I am not a member of some separate ‘gay’ community. And why would I want to get married and be all miserable like most married folks usually become after a few years of that marriage stuff.
Grow up people. I’m off watching Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boatride.
FakeName
Can anyone point me to where GLAAD is calling for South Park to be “punished” for this episode? Can anyone point me to where GLAAD is calling for South Park to be “censored”?
Didn’t think so.
Robert, NYC
Biggest Fan of Big Gay Al…
The next time a gay person gets bashed or killed and the perpetrator uses the word “fag” as they did when Jorge Steven Lopez was beaten, killed, decapitated and burned on November 14, 2009 in Puerto Rico, I suppose you’ll just shrug off the “fag” slur. When these bastards are apprehended for hate crimes, they can now plead that they only used the term in jest, just like the panic defense m.o. Like the old addage…never is a truer word spoken in jest. With indifference like yours, you enable these haters to commit violent crimes against us, no matter the context in which slurs are used. Maybe if you’re the next victim you’ll think twice before dismissing dehumanizing slurs.
Becca
Personally, I don’t find “fag” to be offensive unless the person using the term means to be malicious. When I use that term, I’m usually making fun of myself in a way to make it a ridiculous one. I feel like it can be compared to black people calling each other “n—“. “Fag” is used to dehumanize gay people, just like the “n” word; embrace the positive side of the word and make the negative connotations obsolete.
bob
“Replace the F-word with the N-word, and think about whether this is acceptable television.”
Yes.
They did that episode too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_Apologies_to_Jesse_Jackson
GLAAD dwelling on just one word is not productive, kids can and will make any word an insult, I’d be very surprised if bullied child they mentioned didn’t hear a full rainbow full of off color remarks.
Why must things be one or the other? Extremism and absolutism does not result in productive discourse.
Even when it comes to LGBT people rush to categorize and exclude instead of focusing on larger shared goals, those four letters didn’t always go together.
NoWhereNow
@Mr. Enemabag Jones:
Annnnd the award for over-analysis goes to…
Jake
Hey, that’s Mr. Fag to you.. (Seen on a T-shirt)
Jimmy
@Merv: No, that’s not correct. The guys are Libertarians, and they view far left wing nuts as the same as far right wing nuts. See here:
http://www.theadvocates.org/celebrities/trey-parker.html
Wow
Wow you people are a bunch on whiney fags.
Wow
Wow you people are a bunch on whiny fags.