South Park Is Gay!: Difference between revisions

| airdate = October{{Start date|2003|10|22, 2003}}

| season_article = South Park (season 7)

"'''South Park Is Gay!'''" is the eighth episode of the [[South Park (season 7)|seventh season]] and the 104th overall episode of the American [[cartoon series|animated television series]]sitcom ''[[South Park]]''. It originally aired on [[Comedy Central]] in the United States on October 22, 2003. In itthe episode, [[Kyle Broflovski|Kyle]] struggles to understand a new [[metrosexual]] fad that has sprung around the men and boys of South Park and is the only one who does not want to conform to it. The episode features a parody of the TV show, ''[[Queer Eye (2003 TV series)|Queer Eye for the Straight Guy]]''.

The episode was written and directed by series co-creator [[Trey Parker]]. In 2011, he and co-creator [[Matt Stone]] listed it as one of their least favorite episodes of the series.<ref name="ew"/> However, the "crab people" segment has become one of the sitcom's most iconic moments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goodwillie |first=Ian |date=2021-02-14 |title=South Park: Crab People Are the Series' Best Accidental Gag |url=https://www.cbr.com/south-park-crab-people-are-the-series-best-accidental-gag/ |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=CBR |language=en}}</ref>

After the [[television program|TV show]] ''[[Queer Eye (2003 TV series)|Queer Eye for the Straight Guy]]'' begins showing, [[metrosexual]]ity becomes aextremely major fadpopular among both the men and the boysmales, and theywho all begin to actacting [[effeminacy|effeminateeffeminately]]. At the school bus stop, instead of their usual winter clothing, [[Stan Marsh|Stan]], [[Eric Cartman|Cartman]], and [[Kenny McCormick|Kenny]] wear unmasculinefeminine clothing. [[Kyle Broflovski|Kyle]], whowhom doesthey notpressure wantinto conforming but who later returns to conformhis normal self, is beaten up by Craig, ClydeToken, TokenJason, and JimmyTweak at school., and is abandoned by Cartman, Kenny, and even Stan abandon Kyle. [[Mr. Garrison]] and [[List of staff at South Park Elementary#Mr. Slave|Mr. Slave]], the town's gay couple, are initially excited at first but quickly becometurn opposed toagainst the fad when they realize that metrosexuals are straight men imitating gay culture and lifestyle, which Garrison believes is insulting toinsults actual gays. The women of the town are initially in favor ofenjoy their husbands' improved [[hygiene]] and willingness to communicate, but soon tire of the men's becoming increasinglyincreasing self-absorbedabsorption. When the wivesthey confront the men and boys about this, theyRandy areaccuses accusedthem of being "metrophobic" and the menother becomemales concur, consequently becoming even more feminine than before.

InHoping hopes ofto endingend the fad, Kyle, Mr. Garrison, and Mr. Slave go to [[New York City|New York]] to kill the Fab Five, the hosts of "Queer Eye". Their mission fails but the Fab Five decide to notagainst presspressing charges. Mr. Garrison then tries to talk the nonchalant gay stars out of selling out gay culture for mere ratings, which only falls on deafthey earsignore. Mr. Garrison demands to know how gays could betray their own people, and then slowly realizesrealizing that they are not actually gay at all. The five suddenly gravely turn to the others and their human bodies burst open, revealing thatthemselves they areas an ancient race of "[[Crab]] People".

Captured by thesethe Crab People (who chant "Crab People" repeatedly), the gay couple and Kyle are unablefail to stop the crabs from executing their plans of ruling the earthEarth by destroying the human race (through changing men into metrosexuals) and the Crab People forceare themforced to become Crab People instead; however, the wiveswomen attack and kill the ''Queer Eye'' guys.quintet, Theyexplaining explainafterwards that men need to be masculine and that is whatmasculinity really makes themmales attractive, even if theysaid males are gross. The ''Queer Eye'' producers are about to press charges on the women until they discover that the Fab Five were not human, noting that the Crab People tried this before with ''[[The Jeffersons]]''. They decide instead to "bring back the Latin fad"—which, which the citizens of South Park slavishly adopt.

At school, Stan, Kenny, and Cartman accept Kyle again, but when he expresses his angercomplains that they previously forsook him, the others call him "gay" and go and play [[American football|football]]. He initially walks away in the opposite direction, but then, he stops and, turns around, and reluctantly goes to play with them.

Parker and Stone have since been critical ofcriticized the third-act twist of "crab people" and consider the episode one of their worst. Though they brainstormed for hours to improve the episode (after having deleted the initial subplot of Mr. Garrison leading the other gay people in South Park to "compete" with the metrosexuals), they were unable to come up with anything better than crab people. Executive producer Anne Garefino was particularly critical ofcriticized the idea, deeming it "stupid." Parker later noted that {{"'}}Crab people' became this thing [in the writers' room]. It's like, you just know there's something better, but you can't think of it, and now you've just got to go with crab people." <ref name="ew">{{citeCite magazine |date=October 11, 2011 news|title='South Park': Matt Stone and Trey Parker Name Their 15 Best Episodes (and 53 Worst) |url=http://www.ew.com/gallery/south-park-matt-stone-and-trey-parker-name-their-15-best-episodes-and-53-worst/502151_worst-51-south-park-gay |dateurl-status=Octoberdead 11,|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525032828/http://www.ew.com/gallery/south-park-matt-stone-and-trey-parker-name-their-15-best-episodes-and-53-worst/502151_worst-51-south-park-gay 2011|workarchive-date=[[Entertainment2015-05-25 Weekly]]|accessdate=March 21, 2016 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]}}</ref>

In the DVD commentary, Stone called the Crab People "the worst idea we've ever had."<ref>{{Cite video |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0705961/ |people=[[Trey Parker|Parker, Trey]] |date=November 2004 |title=South Park: The Complete Seventh Season: "South Park Is Gay!" |format=Audio commentary |medium= DVD|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures#Paramount Home Entertainment|Paramount Home Entertainment]]}}</ref> Despite Parker and Stone's distaste for the characters, however, the Crab People have actually become fairly popular villains with fans of the show.

In the Season 8 episode "[[Quest for Ratings]]", Eric Cartman suggestedsuggests the Crab People while brainstorming ideas for a news show. They're are also mentioned at the end of the Season 9 episode "[[Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow]]", where they wereare blamed for destroying the Beaverton dam. The Crab People also appear in the video games ''[[The Stick of Truth]]'' and ''[[The Fractured but Whole]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/05/16/south-park-stick-of-truth-sales/ |title=South Park: The Stick of Truth sold 1.6m copies, slayed Crab People |date=May 16, 2015 |website=technobuffalo |access-date=March 2, 2021}}</ref>

==Home releasemedia==

* [https://southparkwww.ccsouthparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s07e08fq8wbh/south-park-south-park-is-gay-season-7-ep-8 "South Park is Gay"] Full episode at South Park Studios

[[Category:South Park (season 7) episodes]]