‘South Park’ Won’t Stop With Its Donald Trump Rape Jokes

When it’s not a show defined by its irreverence or its desire to be the first to mock controversy, South Park is a show defined by running jokes. The racially-driven Kyle and Cartman feud has existed since Season 1. For years, the show was known almost exclusively for killing off one of its main characters every episode. And in recent seasons, nods to more modern through lines, like Craig and Tweek’s relationship or Randy’s secret identity as Lorde, have appeared time and time again. However, there’s one running joke that South Park really seems to love right now — Donald Trump rapes people to death.

Linking Trump to rape and death can be traced all the way back to the beginning of Season 19. In “Where My Country Gone?” Mr. Garrison literally rapes South Park’s version of a Canadian Donald Trump to death at the end of the episode. That occurred in September of 2015, and the Trump rape jokes have only continued since then. Throughout Season 20, Mr. Garrison campaigned on a promise that he would rape everyone he disliked to death, slowly transforming into South Park’s Trump replacement the more he campaigned and rallied. Mr. Garrison realizing that he couldn’t physically rape as many people as he promised even triggered the former teacher to do anything possible to get Hillary Clinton (Turd Sandwich) elected. As we now know, he ultimately failed. In South Park’s weird and vulgar world, Trump has always been linked to rape, but that joke came to an increasingly disturbing conclusion last night.

“Doubling Down” focuses on two abusive relationships — Cartman’s relationship with Heidi and Trump’s relationship with his supporters. On a very dark surface level, it’s an analogy that makes sense while trying to explain why so many Trump voters have turned a blind eye to the missteps they once ruthlessly criticized other presidents for. The A.V. Club’s Dan Caffrey even titled his review of the episode “South Park Recognizes the Plight of the Regretful Trump Voter.” These voters, South Park argues, are embarrassed to admit they were wrong, terrified to re-enter a world filled with people saying “I told you so,” and find it more comfortable to stick with the abuser they know and feel dependent on (Cartman and Trump) rather than explore anything else. But then South Park all but showed its Trump replacement raping Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell, and any insight the analogy could have flew out the window.

Even by South Park’s standards, which once portrayed cannibalistic serial killers as the Three Stooges, the scenes with Pence, Ryan, and McConnell are disturbing. They cower away from “Trump,” and after Ryan finally tries to oppose him, he’s later shown giving an interview with a semen-covered black eye. However, the most disturbing moment of all happens at the end of the episode. After the trio, huddled under support blankets, give Mr. Garrison a one-year anniversary cake, McConnell dejectedly says “Looks like many more years of the same are to come.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Mr. Garrison replies. “I think the next three years are going to be even better.” He then walks out from behind his desk, a giant strap-on dildo strapped to his crotch. The three look horrified and nervously laugh. Fittingly, that’s the exact same reaction I had watching this episode and South Park’s Trump rape jokes as a whole.

On a base, immature level, the Trump rape joke makes sense. Mr. Garrison is a bad person, and what’s the absolute worst thing a bad person can do? I’m not entirely sure what the deranged answer to that question is, but raping someone to death definitely makes the top five list. It’s one of the worst things imaginable, which allows South Park to mock the morality of the president without worrying that the scandalous Trump news story of the week will outpace the show’s satire. However, these increasingly disturbing rape jokes have gone from being merely cringe-worthy to insulting to both viewers and survivors of sexual assault. They’re also coming at an incredibly charged time.

From Harvey Weinstein to Kevin Spacey and Charlie Sheen, headlines have recently been dominated by people accusing celebrities of sexual assault, misconduct, and abuse. As every story proves, this is a huge problem that speaks to a deeper flaw in both the entertainment industry and society as a whole. Making rape jokes during this time really doesn’t seem funny. Connecting them to President Trump, who has had several sexual assault allegations levied against him, is especially humorless. “Doubling Down” didn’t feel insightful or even funny. It felt misguided, tone deaf, cruel, and a bit too close to home. Perhaps that was the point.

The episode also continued a trend of inconsistency for the show. Last week’s episode, “Sons a Witches,” explored the emerging criticism that the Harvey Weinstein scandal is turning into a witch hunt. The episode’s ultimate message was a relatively smart one as well as a strong one seeing as how it came from two white, male creators in positions of power. If you don’t want to be accused of being a “witch,” don’t act like a witch or enable your friends to act like witches. The previous week relentlessly mocked Mark Zuckerberg, calling him a sellout for Facebook’s involvement in the election. It’s notoriously difficult to know exactly what South Park supports, but it’s very clear the show isn’t currently Trump’s fan. If it could communicate that without making light of sexual abuse during one of the most controversial times in entertainment history, that would be wonderful.

Where to stream South Park