Its frequent depiction of taboo subject matter, unusual (especially sophomoric) humor and portrayal of religion for comic effect has generated controversy, ire from critics, and debate throughout the world over the course of its 26 seasons.
Furthermore, the season 3 DVD set was originally rated 18 in the UK, Canada and Ireland, due to references to child molestation in the final episode, World Wide Recorder Concert.
[3][9][10] In a 1999 poll conducted by NatWest Bank, eight and nine-year-old children in the United Kingdom voted the show's character Eric Cartman their favorite personality.
Conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III, founder of the advocacy group Parents Television Council (PTC), has frequently criticized the show.
[14] Action for Children's Television founder Peggy Charren claimed that the show's use of language and racial slurs represents the depravity of Western civilization, and that it is "dangerous to the democracy".
[9][15] Several other Christian activist groups have protested the show's parodies of Christianity-related matter and portrayal of Jesus Christ—whom South Park has depicted blaspheming, shooting and stabbing other characters, and as unable to perform actual miracles.
[16][17] Aside from the efforts in Russia, no group or individual in a country where the show is aired has mounted a significant campaign to ban the series and its availability on home media entirely.
[33] In the season nine (2005) episode "Trapped in the Closet", Stan Marsh is recognized as the reincarnation of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard before denouncing the church as nothing more than "a big fat global scam".
While the press release did not specifically mention "Trapped in the Closet", Parker and Stone assert that he quit because of the episode and its treatment of Scientology, as Hayes was a member.
Stone commented that Hayes practiced a double standard regarding the treatment of religion on South Park: "[We] never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we [lampooned] Scientology.
[41] "Trapped in the Closet" was scheduled to rebroadcast on March 15, 2006, on Comedy Central, but the broadcast was canceled without prior notice and was replaced with a repeat of the season two (1998) episode "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls".
[43][44] Comedy Central's parent company, Viacom, also owns Paramount Pictures, which was set to distribute the then-upcoming film Mission: Impossible III, which stars Cruise.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights demanded an apology from Comedy Central and unsuccessfully campaigned to have the episode both removed permanently from the network's rotation and never be made available on DVD.
[45][60][61] Viacom board member Joseph A. Califano Jr. and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued formal complaints with then-Viacom CEO Tom Freston.
The network rejected the catholic plea of censorship, and was allowed to air the episode, doing so ahead of schedule to take advantage of the media attention surrounding the campaign.
Residents of South Park panic, fearing violent responses similar to those that occurred worldwide after some Muslims regarded cartoon depictions of Muhammad in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten as insulting.
[2][45] Parker and Stone claim the only regrets they have over the incident was that their mocking of the show Family Guy in the episode generated more attention than its commentary on the ethics of censorship.
The author of the post, Zachary Adam Chesser[68] who went by the username Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, wrote on Twitter that he prayed for Allah to kill the show's creators and "burn them in Hell for all eternity".
"[68] Following the airing of this episode, Malaysia's conservative Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) demanded that the makers of South Park apologize to Muslims around the world for its portrayal of Muhammad dressed as a bear, though it was later shown that it was actually Santa inside the suit.
"Even though they have added the audio bleeps, South Park's producer and broadcaster should apologize to the Muslims, as this is a sensitive issue", said PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar.
The regions 2 and 4 releases of South Park – The Complete Fourteenth Season had both "200" and "201" removed for undisclosed reasons, despite the packaging claiming that all fourteen episodes are included in the set.
In the chalkboard gag of The Simpsons episode, "The Squirt and the Whale", Bart pokes fun at the death threats Parker and Stone received by writing "South Park, We'd Stand Beside You If We Weren't So Scared."
[45] The episode originally aired seven weeks after Irwin, an internationally popular Australian TV personality and wildlife expert, died when his heart was pierced by a stingray barb.
[73][74][75] In the 2009 episode "Pinewood Derby" several world leaders were depicted, including Mexican President Felipe Calderón, failing to successfully deal with an international crisis.
While no specifics were given, it included a scene in the 2015 episode "Sponsored Content" where presidential candidate Mr. Garrison states that he knows there is only one way how to deal with Syrian refugees, and the crowd shouts "fuck them all to death".
This happened most prominently in the 2006 episode "ManBearPig", which made fun of US presidential candidate Al Gore and his climate change activism by comparing it to alarmism about a mythical monster.
However, others pointed out that even this depicted reversal was just a "mild repudiation" and a "half-apology"; with this change of heart just being part of what seems to be increased concerns of the creators for the legacy of their long-running show.
[80][81][82] One of Parker and Stone's earliest responses to the show being condemned as "nothing but bad animation and fart jokes" was creating a show-within-the-show about two even-more-crudely-drawn characters named Terrance and Phillip who do little else but flatulate around each other.
The cartoon, which is about the history of guns in the United States, implies that there is a connection between the Ku Klux Klan and the establishment of the National Rifle Association of America.
[86] Due to the references to many forbidden topics such as Dalai Lama, Winnie-the-Pooh and organ transplants in the season 23 (2019) episode "Band in China", since the episode's broadcast, South Park has been entirely banned in China: the series' Baidu Baike article, Baidu Tieba forum, Douban page, Zhihu page and Bilibili videos have been deleted or inaccessible to the public.