{"id":135377,"date":"2025-09-11T14:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/135377\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T14:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:16:10","slug":"comedy-central-pulls-south-park-episode-after-charlie-kirk-shooting-amid-maga-backlas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/135377\/","title":{"rendered":"Comedy Central pulls South Park episode after Charlie Kirk shooting amid MAGA backlas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comedy Central on Thursday pulled a recent episode of South Park that parodied conservative activist Charlie\u202fKirk<\/a>, after supporters of the \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d movement blamed the show for fueling his fatal shooting.<\/p>\n

2 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05e6'\u05e8\u05dc\u05d9<\/a>\"\u05e6'\u05e8\u05dc\u05d9<\/p>\n

Conservative activist Charlie\u202fKirk and his South Park parody <\/p>\n

(Photo: Screengrab, JEFF KOWALSKY \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

The controversial episode, titled Got a Nut, aired Aug. 6. In it, the character Eric Cartman portrays a caricature of Kirk\u2014mimicking his speech style, haircut and debating tactics\u2014and concludes with a fictional \u201cCharlie Kirk Award for Young Master-Debaters.\u201d Cartman boasts about beating \u201ctotally unprepared\u201d college girls in a debate, while editing out all who respond well.<\/p>\n

Despite the satire, Kirk initially reacted favorably. In a TikTok video after the episode aired, he called it \u201chilarious,\u201d and later told Fox News that he viewed it as \u201ca badge of honor.\u201d <\/p>\n

Some of Kirk\u2019s supporters, however, contend that the parody may have contributed to the circumstances that led to the shooting. \u201cYou know what, f— it. Let\u2019s blame South Park,\u201d one wrote on X. \u201cBlame the media. Blame leftist rhetoric. These people hate you and want to see you dead. If they\u2019ll kill Charlie Kirk and piss on his grave, they\u2019ll do it to any of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrey Parker and Matt Stone are responsible for this,\u201d posted a second, referring to the creators of the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Park certainly fomented the hatred necessary to get Kirk assassinated,\u201d a third said.<\/p>\n

Johnny MAGA, a popular account with nearly 250,000 followers, said: \u201cSouth Park attacking Charlie Kirk\u2019s college campus events and mocking his Christian faith just a few weeks ago,\u201d and added a clip from the episode with the caption: \u201cMonsters.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"\u05e6'\u05e8\u05dc\u05d9<\/a>\"\u05e6'\u05e8\u05dc\u05d9<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump and Kirk <\/p>\n

(Photo: MARK WILSON \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

In response to the backlash, Comedy Central removed the episode from its rerun schedule. It remains available via Paramount+ streaming. <\/p>\n

At least one other outlet recently provoked Kirk: three days before his death, Jezebel published an essay accusing him of extreme misogyny\u2014including a headline, \u201cWe Paid Some Etsy Witches to Curse Charlie Kirk,\u201d and tongue\u2011in\u2011cheek references to alleged hexes. The piece was later updated with an editor\u2019s note condemning the shooting and saying the essay did not support political violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis story was published on September 8. Jezebel condemns the shooting of Charlie Kirk in the strongest possible terms. We do not endorse, encourage, or excuse political violence of any kind,\u201d the editor’s note read. The article was also updated since its original publication to change the byline to \u201cBy Jezebel.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his career, Kirk had been prominent for his outspoken pro\u2011Israel stance and criticism of the BDS movement. He was known for describing Israel as a key ally of the United States. At the time of his death, videos recorded at the scene showed him bleeding from a neck wound and the crowd fleeing in panic. A suspect was initially detained but later released. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, MSNBC fired political analyst Matthew Dowd after he suggested on air that Kirk\u2019s own \u201chateful words\u201d contributed to his shooting. The network apologized, calling the remarks \u201cinappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comedy Central on Thursday pulled a recent episode of South Park that parodied conservative activist Charlie\u202fKirk, after supporters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-135377","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}