South Park, Irwin controversy
widow devastated, show unrepentant over Crocodile Hunter joke
South Park creators once again find themselves in hot water after they joke about Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin's death.
(Source: www.imdb.com)
Steve Irwin's widow is reportedly "devastated" after South Park made a joke about the Crocodile Hunter. However, the show's producers are unrepentant, saying it's business as usual for the controversial TV cartoon.
The uproar is in response to a sequence in the episode "Hell on Earth 2006." Steve Irwin shows up at a Halloween party in Hell, with a stingray barb still attached to his chest. Satan, thinking it's someone in costume, confronts him saying, "It's just a little soon, you know. I mean, he just died a few weeks ago and it's just not super-cool." When Irwin says that it's really him, Satan throws him out of the party because he's not in costume. Irwin's last line is: "Wait, I thought we were friends!"
Representatives of Irwin's family condemned the episode, saying that widow Terri Irwin is concerned that her children might see the show.
"Terri is devastated Steve is being mocked in such a cruel way," claimed an unnamed friend of the family. "Her worry is that (their children) Bindi Sue and Bob will see it and break down. Steve had as big a sense of humor as anyone, but this goes too far too soon."
"My message to people is don't watch the show," said British naturalist Mark Amey, who worked with Irwin. "It's distasteful s**t. Let's hope none of Steve's fans, who keep poisonous animals, happen to find the addresses of those behind the show and leave them a nice surprise."
"(South Park) has offended people in the past and probably will again," said a spokesman for creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. "We know that regular watchers will not be shocked."
"The South Park guys do inappropriate things all the time, that's what they do," said Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox. "Their goal is to make people laugh, not to offend people. We recognize that they do a lot of provocative things -- is this one of them? Probably yes.
"(Parker and Stone) are largely free to do what they like in terms of creativity and kinds of subject matter," continued Fox, "and this is perhaps just another example of that."
SBS, the network that shows South Park in Australia, says it may air the episode next year, although whether or not they show it is still "subject to classification."
South Park is no stranger to controversy, having offended two religious groups in the past year alone. Scientologists were up in arms over the Emmy-nominated "Trapped in the Closet" which mocked the cult, as well as the sexuality of prominent Scientologists like Tom Cruise and John Travolta. The episode "Bloody Mary," which depicted a statue of the Virgin menstruating on the Pope, insulted Roman Catholics.
Steve Irwin died on September 4th, after being stung by a stingray in a freak accident. He was filming an underwater scene for his daughter's upcoming TV show, Bindi the Jungle Girl.
