10 Most Controversial South Park Moments

There’s crossing the line, and then there’s really crossing the line. The whole idea behind South Park is that there’s nowhere they won’t go, but even long term fans would imagine that there are certain boundaries they won’t cross. With Apologies to Jesse Jackson, season 11’s opener, put paid to that idea.

Perennial town pariah Randy Marsh puts his foot in it big time after cheerfully - but without malice - exclaiming an ethnic slur on a game show. The episode then gleefully skewers racism, with Randy ostracised and abused for his use of the word. He becomes “the N word guy”, and eventually teams with others, including Michael Richards, to abolish the use of the N word in close proximity to the word “guy”.

While the sheer quantity of racial language makes for uncomfortable viewing and led to criticism from the Parents Television Council (who badly missed the point), other rights groups were quick to praise the incisive satire. It was one of South Park’s biggest risks yet, one that could quite easily have seen them yanked off the air, but instead it was something of a triumph for a show in a purple patch.