The American animated sitcom South Park has covered and satirized a large number of topics over the course of its run. South Park Studio's use of computer animation with primarily two-dimensional assets allows it to edit episodes in days, quickly commenting on recent events, including Elián González, the 2000 U.S. presidential election, the capture of Saddam Hussein, and the elections of both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. The creators also have engendered a mix of socially liberal and fiscally conservative viewpoints, espousing a libertarian ideology in both real life and on the show. However, the show's creators call themselves "equal opportunity offenders" and reject the notion that they are trying to put forth any consistent ideological agenda through the show.
List Abortion Abortion is heavily lampooned in South Park. "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut": Cartman's Mom attempted to get her son a "40th trimester" abortion, and finds out that such a late abortion is illegal, she says "Well, I think you need to keep your laws off of my body." Later in the episode, Mrs Cartman says "I should've thought of raising a child before having sex." She was later informed that she confused the word "abortion" with "adoption". "Cartman Joins NAMBLA": Upon learning that his parents want to have another child, Kenny attempts to prevent the event of having a younger sibling. He attempts to give his mother morning-after abortion pills, tries to get her to drink liquor and encourages her to ride on an intense amusement park attraction in order to provoke a miscarriage. None of his attempts work, however, leaving the newborn child to become a miniature reincarnation of Kenny himself. "Chef Goes Nanners": The substitute teacher shows that the class had participated in different debates, with one being "Pro-Choice vs. Cartman". "Kenny Dies": Cartman attempts to get stem cell research (using aborted fetuses) legalized in a feigned attempt to save Kenny's life. It is revealed at the end of the episode he really wanted to use stem cells to clone Shakey’s Pizza. "A Ladder to Heaven": Upon realizing that Kenny's soul is inside his body, Cartman decides to go somewhere where they "remove living souls from inside" of him. He then proceeds to go to an abortion clinic where he gets into an argument with the lady at the counter, stating that he can't live this way and demanding that they just suck Kenny's soul out. A couple walk in and upon hearing Cartman's rant, the girlfriend states that she "can't do this" and runs out. At that point, the visibly angry boyfriend throws a rock at Cartman. "Woodland Critter Christmas": The mountain lion cubs are taught at an abortion clinic how to stop the Antichrist porcupine from being born. During the episode's final confrontation, they give Kyle an "abortion", expelling the Antichrist from his body so that Santa can crush it with a sledgehammer. "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina": The newly sex-changed Mrs. Garrison becomes convinced she is pregnant because she doesn't start menstruating. She asks the doctor whether he would "vacuum it (the fetus) out or scramble its brains" because "a woman can do whatever she wants with her body," only to find out at the abortion clinic that uteruses are not created in sex change operations; therefore she cannot get pregnant. "Eek, a Penis!": Cartman spends most of the episode teaching inner-city kids that it is okay to cheat. In counseling a pregnant teenager, he says that "Abortion isn't wrong...abortion is the ultimate form of cheating. You're cheating nature itself. Why do rich white girls get ahead in life? Because they get abortions when they're young. They get pregnant, but they still want to go to college, so, whatever, they just cheat. They cheat that little critter in their belly out of a chance at life." South Park: The Stick of Truth: A section of the game takes place in the abortion clinic, named Unplanned Parenthood, as the New Kid goes undercover dressing as a girl to recover a girl's abortion records for Wendy's crew. Along the way, he has to perform an "abortion" on Randy Marsh in disguise to fool the government agents and deal with an outbreak of Nazi Zombie Fetuses that overrun the clinic. This section was censored in the release of the game in certain regions.
Canadians Canadians are heavily satirized in South Park. Most Canadians are depicted as having beady eyes, and the top halves of their heads simply flap up and down when they speak. They also exhibit exaggerated Canadian stereotypes. This traces back to the season one episode "Death", which introduced the Canadian comedy duo Terrance and Phillip. The episode was inspired by early criticism that South Park was little more than flatulence jokes and primitive animation. And thus Terrance and Phillip literally did nothing but a series of flatulence jokes, and were rendered in cruder animation than South Park itself. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone then decided to extend the visual running gag to all of Canada after Terrance and Phillip were later featured in the season two premiere "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus". Canada is featured prominently in several episodes such as "It's Christmas in Canada", "Canada on Strike", and "Where My Country Gone?" as well as the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
The British royal family, in their capacity as the Canadian royal family, has also been satirized in the episodes "Royal Pudding" and "The Worldwide Privacy Tour".
Celebrities Barbra Streisand: in "Mecha-Streisand", "200", and "201", she gains evil-powers and destroys the town as a Mechagodzilla-style creature; in "Spookyfish", different visages from her TV and film work appear as "Spooky Streisand" sidebars. Her name also seems to be something of a curse word in the South Park universe, as in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants." Robert Smith from The Cure: In "Mecha-Streisand", he is called in to defeat Barbra Streisand by turning in to a Mothra-like creature to take her down. However, he has an ability called "Robot Punch", which his a reference to many mecha anime. "Starvin' Marvin" and "Starvin' Marvin in Space" lampoon the charity efforts of Sally Struthers, who appears as a Jabba the Hutt figure in the latter episode. Dr. Oz: in "Butterballs", Dr. Oz spouts false medical babble and bullies Butters while interviewing him about the anti-bullying video he is starring in. "Butters' Very Own Episode": The parents of Butters Stotch try to conceal Butters' mother's attempted murder of their son with the help of Gary Condit, O. J. Simpson, and the parents of JonBenét Ramsey. "Fat Butt and Pancake Head": Cartman makes a Jennifer Lopez hand puppet, which suddenly develops a personality of its own and becomes a singing sensation. As a result, the real J-Lo is fired from her record label and Ben Affleck falls in love with the hand puppet. Affleck, prior to "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", also appears in "How to Eat with Your Butt", where it is revealed that he is the long-lost son of a couple suffering from a fictitious congenital condition called "torsonic polarity syndrome" (TPS), which causes victims to appear to have buttocks in place of their face. Rob Reiner is derided as a hypocritical activist who works to outlaw smoking in public places for reasons of health, despite the fact that he is obese on account of poor dietary habits, in "Butt Out". His obesity hits home whenever he needs butter to get out of tight places such as a car. John Edward's mentalist/medium practices are criticized in "The Biggest Douche in the Universe". Jared Fogle is satirized in "Jared Has Aides": a play on his use of personal trainers in the episode. He also appeared in the episode "Stunning and Brave" and the video game South Park: The Fractured but Whole. Russell Crowe is playfully mocked for his Gladiator role, his music and his violent fights in "The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer". "The Biggest Douche in the Universe": Rob Schneider is shown in four movie previews. The previews depict Schneider transforming into a stapler, a carrot, and Kenny McCormick. One of the previews is more like a template with often used phrases "Until one day", "From the creators of", and "Rob Schneider is" between which it's filled with nonsensical gibberish. Schneider is shown dancing in a discothèque, walking into a lamp post, drinking some liquid in a laboratory, and falling down stairs. Mel Gibson is the subject of Cartman's admiration after Cartman watches Gibson's film, The Passion of the Christ, culminating in "The Passion of the Jew", wherein Gibson responds to Stan and Kenny's demand for a refund of the money they spent on The Passion by masochistic tendencies with which he accuses Stan and Kenny of threatening to torture him, and by chasing after the two after they steal the money from his home. He later defecates on Cartman and smears his feces on a South Park building, ruining his standing with Cartman and his Christian South Park fans. He later appears in the "Imaginationland Episode III", in which he provides story ideas to the United States government, in order to inspire a possible avenue of investigation into the invasion of Imaginationland. Despite his bizarre, erratic behavior, the Pentagon officials observe, his experience as a director and his understanding of story structure actually provide a useful idea, where previous directors consulted, Michael Bay and M. Night Shyamalan, merely suggested special effects and plot twists. Michael Jackson is portrayed with the character "Mr. Jefferson" in the episode "The Jeffersons", in which he moves to South Park with his son Blanket to a house full of arcade games and animals, inevitably attracting all the kids in the town. Jackson is later parodied in the season 13 episode "Dead Celebrities" as a ghost possessing Ike because of his denial of being dead, being a man, being an adult and being black. "Dead Celebrities" also featured Billy Mays, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Walter Cronkite, Dom DeLuise, Ted Kennedy, Natasha Richardson, Bea Arthur, David Carradine, DJ AM, Ricardo Montalbán, and Steve McNair as celebrities trapped in purgatory, which is like being in a plane on the tarmac, because Michael Jackson refuses to acknowledge his death. The Boys get help from Ghost Hunters co-stars Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson in the same episode. Paris Hilton is caricatured as a "skank" in "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset". The episode implies (and in some cases explicitly states) that Paris Hilton is a stupid, spoiled, drunken whore who has done nothing to deserve her fame except being rich and spoiled. The episode also criticizes how she has become a role model for young girls (the girls of South Park, with the exception of Wendy Testaburger, quickly take up her supposedly promiscuous and mindless attitude towards life after the opening of the "Stupid spoiled whore" shop). Tom Cruise and John Travolta are famously caricatured in "Trapped in the Closet" for their participation in Scientology. This episode resulted in the departure of Isaac Hayes as Chef in "The Return of Chef", where Chef is brainwashed into a made-up organization lampooning Scientology (of which Hayes is a member, and claimed religious insult because of "Closet"). The title of the "Closet" episode references "Trapped in the Closet" by R. Kelly, who is also a participant in "Closet." Prior to "Trapped in the Closet", Travolta was featured in "The Entity", demonstrating Mr. Garrison's mono-wheel vehicle known as "IT." George Clooney is considered a source of "smug" in "Smug Alert!" for his speech giving Hollywood credit in the American Civil Rights Movement, and in the movie for the doctor. "Super Best Friends": David Blaine is the leader of a cult known as "Blaintology".