South Park sinks to new lows with jokes about trans athletes in latest episode
A scene from the South Park episode “Board Girls” (Comedy Central)
The creators of South Park have waded into the debate over transgender women in competitive sports by hitting out at trans athletes in their latest episode.
The animated show is known for its distasteful jokes on controversial subjects and general mockery of what they see as ‘political correctness’.
The seventh episode of the 23rd season, entitled Board Girls, was broadcast on Wednesday. It introduces the character of Heather Swanson, a transgender woman who looks and sounds just like the late wrestler Randy Savage.
Heather says she started identifying as female “two weeks ago” in order to compete in a local Strongwoman tournament. “I’m not here to talk about my transition, I’m here to kicking some f**king ass,” she says.
She immediately starts dominating the competition, but is later revealed to be the ex-boyfriend of a rival, disguised as a trans woman to undermine her.
The revenge plot sees the scheming athlete brought down by the girls of South Park elementary in a board game tournament.
#SouthPark23 #strongwoman pic.twitter.com/alPfSd0VUM
— South Park (@SouthPark) November 14, 2019
It’s not the first time South Park has poked fun at transgender people – a 2014 episode entitled The Cissy sees Eric Cartman putting a bow on his hat and claiming to be “transginger” in order to use the girls’ toilets at school.
Family Guy has similarly run episodes attacking the trans community, despite previously suggesting it would be seeking a more tolerant path by “phasing out” the anti-gay jokes, which they “now understand [are] not acceptable.”
A recent episode features Quagmire’s transgender mother Ida, who is looking at pornographic images on her phone while sitting at a bar. The bartender tells her, “Excuse me, ma’am, no porn at the bar.” Ida replies: “Oh, it’s OK, I’m transgender.”
“Oh, I had no idea,” the bartender apologises, “Do whatever you want all the time.”
