South Park and The Simpsons—two beloved, long running cartoons—have always had a sort of friendly rivalry. In 2002, South Park aired the episode "Simpsons Already Did It," which gently joked about longevity of The Simpsons, and how it had already thought up every ridiculous plot. Well, 16 years later, South Park has taken on The Simpsons again, and this time it's a little less amicable.
In the third episode of its 22 season "The Problem With a Poo" (get it?), South Park is working on running all the shit out of town. Mr. Hanky has been taking Ambien and tweeting horrible stuff, so the people of South Park decide to stop making excuses for him and put him on the first Poo-ber (Lyft) to somewhere else. Where did they send him though?
As Randy tells Stan:
He'll have to find a place that accepts racist awful beings like him. There are still places out there that don't care about bigotry and hate.
It then shows Mr. Hanky's Lyft pulling up in Springfield, where a version of Bart Simpson says "Cool, man, talking crap."
The South Park version of Apu—with a horrible accent—says "Welcome my friend. Rest your tired feet and make yourself at home here."
This scene is followed by a blank screen with the words #Cancelthesimpsons.
The message is very clear. In recent years, The Simpsons has been under fire for its racist depiction of Apu. Last year, comedian Hari Kondabolu released the documentary The Problem With Apu, which analyzed how the character perpetuates South Asian stereotypes. "I can’t get over that ridiculous voice that’s unrealistic and goofy and the setting he’s in and the fact that there are about ten jokes that repeat themselves, like gods with multiple heads and arms, curry, the Kwik-E-Mart, go to the Himalayas," Kondabolu told me.
Kondabolu also responded to the South Park episode last night:
Since Kondabolu's documentary, Simpsons creator Matt Groening has refused to take responsibility for the criticism. South Park's response, however, will definitely get people talking. And maybe now's the perfect moment to think about what shitty, beloved characters we need to run out of town.
