South Park: Kenny’s 12 Greatest Deaths

The South Park team is no stranger to courting controversy, that goes without saying. They push the boat out especially far in the Season Eight episode The Jeffersons, though, which brutally attacks the famously litigious Michael Jackson at the height of his legal troubles. Though Stone and Parker would take on celebrities of similar status before and after, this remains a particularly startling episode in the directness of its attack.

They go so far as to have Michael Jackson (in the transparent guise of Martin Jefferson) kill Kenny, who the boys have disguised as Jackson’s son, Blanket. In a manner mirroring the real Jackson’s arguably reckless parenting (dangling his child over a hotel balcony, for example), Mr Jefferson winds up chucking Kenny in the air jovially. Inevitably, an overzealous throw results in Kenny’s head smashing lethally against the ceiling. Kenny was dying far less regularly at this point, so the moment worked well to add to the shock value of the episode on the whole.

The Jeffersons surprisingly didn’t land the creators in hot water (as later celebrity attacks like “Trapped In The Closet” would), but having the most famous pop star - and probably person full stop - killing a child was a length few other writers would go to.