‘South Park’ Is Banned In This Country For Its ‘Low Moral and Ethical Content’
South Park is an animated sitcom that, while it looks like a lighthearted cartoon judging by the animation style, is definitely geared toward an older audience. A TV show that features dark humor, extreme violence, racy jokes, and many mature references, South Park is not for everyone — but to those who love the writing and creative direction, and relate to the eccentric style of the show’s creators, it is a work of true brilliance. These days, South Park is still going strong, although, over the years, some countries have made their opinions about the controversial series known by making moves to try to ban the show entirely.
When did ‘South Park’ debut on television?
South Park first debuted on television in 1997, the brainchild of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, two writer-comedians who saw an opportunity and ran with it. The show follows the exploits of four young boys, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick, as well as their families and friends, as they experience growing pains in a small Colorado town.
South Park became the first weekly program to be rated TV-MA, primarily due to the show’s liberal use of profanity and dark, morbid humor.
Nothing is off-limits in South Park, and over time, the show has skewered everything from celebrity culture to political happenings. While some people have taken offense at the show, and gone out of their way to complain to the network, critics have praised the series for the witty writing — and South Park has been honored with numerous awards, including five Primetime Emmy Awards.
‘South Park’ has made headlines many times due to racy humor
South Park has been running almost continuously since 1997 — and in that time, the show, and the creators, have managed to offend many people and a number of various groups. South Park takes aim at religious groups on a regular basis and takes much of its humor from current headlines. One of the most damning criticisms of the show is how easily accessible it is to younger viewers — and how full of profanity the series is.
In spite of the almost constant backlash, however, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have always maintained that it is never their mission to offend anyone. As Parker once stated: “When someone goes, ‘Oh, this group is pissed off at what you said,’ there’s not a piece of my body that goes, ‘Sweet!’ That just means I did it wrong. I’m just trying to make people laugh.”
Which country banned ‘South Park’?
American audiences might occasionally take to social media to complain about South Park, but several countries have actually taken things to the next level.
According to ScreenRant, the country of Kuwait banned South Park because of the religious jokes made in the show — primarily the ones about the Muslim faith. South Park is an equal opportunity offender when it comes to religious humor, and the show’s creators didn’t back down from the jokes after the ban, doubling down in many cases.
In addition, Russia made a move to ban the series in 2008, after the show was deemed “pornographic, extremist and immoral.” According to The Guardian, Russian government officials slammed South Park, saying in a statement that “this media product is of low moral and ethical content and has an extremely negative effect on children, it perverts their moral orientation and increases the danger of panic and neurotic ailments.”
South Park wasn’t the only show that Russia tried to ban — officials also carried out a crusade against Family Guy and The Simpsons.
