News broke this week that a Blackwater subsidiary was arming violent drug users in Afghanistan. They took hundreds of weapons intended for the Afghan National Police and at least one of them (probably more) signed for the shipments with the name "Eric Cartman."
When I asked "South Parks"'s creators what they thought of these men co-opting their character they were completely unfazed. "It makes perfect sense. It's the name I would use," Trey Parker said. "Our first reaction to any story is 'How do we put this into the show?' and the second reaction is 'Did Cartman do that?' because he's so real to us it's like 'I bet Cartman did that.'"
"I saw that and thought,
'Wow, Cartman did that? That's pretty cool. Sounds like something he would do,'" Matt Stone agreed...
They've also been attacked by every religious group possible, but never asked to back off before, even when they stabbed Jesus in the neck and made all Catholic priests pedophiles. They said despite all that the most vocal group about religion has been atheists. "We got calls from atheists friends a couple times saying, 'What the fuck, we thought you were on our side?' and we say, 'We're not on anybody's fucking side and we're not atheists.'"
When I asked them which group they've pissed off the most over the years, they both said "liberals." "Liberal people got mad at us for 'Team America' -- that's the most I've felt it. [The movie] came out right before the Bush/Kerry election and I think we fucked up. I don't think we should've timed it that way," Matt explained. "Because it came out right before the election, liberals were waiting for it as this big anti-Bush statement, and there's plenty of stuff in there that is anti-Bush, but we never would've spent three years of our lives making a movie just to make a statement two weeks before the election. Some people felt like it was a big betrayal."
Much has been written about the politics behind "South Park" and what ideologies these men subscribe to. In 2005 a book was even released called "South Park Conservatives," arguing that Matt and Trey embody the modern revolt against the liberal media and all it breeds. What do they think of that?
"It was just lame, that's exactly what we're talking about--people trying to claim the show," said Matt, who in 2005 announced "I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals." When I asked him about the quote, Trey responded, "It's all based on saying the shocking thing. We used to have a great time going to Hollywood parties and saying 'I think George Bush is doing a great job.' We'd clear out the room. I used to love it."
Both men were adamant that the show has no political affiliation. "I would never want the show to be a Democrat show or Republican show, because for us the show's more important than that. It isn't for everybody else in the world, but it is for us. We don't want you to come to it thinking, 'These guys are going to bash liberals,'" Matt explained...