Chewbacca defense

A Chewbacca defense is the name given to a legal strategy in which the aim of the argument seems to be to deliberately confuse the jury rather than actually refute the case of the other side. The concept's name comes from an episode of the animated series South Park, "Chef Aid", which premiered on October 7, 1998. This episode satirised attorney Johnnie Cochran's closing argument defending O. J. Simpson in his murder trial. The term has since been commonly used in describing legal cases, especially criminal ones. The concept of disguising a flaw in one's argument by presenting large amounts of irrelevant information has previously been described as the modern day equivalent of a red herring or the fallacy ignoratio elenchi (irrelevant conclusion).

Within the context of the episode, the fictional Cochran begins his defense case by basing his argument on the Star Wars film series, specifically on the (incorrect) claim that the character Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. He goes on to point out first the supposed senselessness of this decision, noting that "it does not make sense", and then how his use of Star Wars as evidence in a harassment suit "does not make sense" either, and that therefore the case should be dismissed. His closing argument "If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit" lampoons the real Cochran's "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit".

In the episode, Chef contacts a "major record company" executive, seeking only to have his name credited as the composer of a fictional Alanis Morissette hit called "Stinky Britches". Chef's claim is substantiated by a 20‑year-old recording of Chef performing the song.

The record company refuses and furthermore hires Johnnie Cochran, who files a lawsuit against Chef for harassment. In court, Cochran resorts to his "famous" Chewbacca defense, which he "used during the Simpson trial", according to Chef's lawyer, Gerald Broflovski. Although Broflovski uses logic, reasoning and the fact that Chef properly copyrighted his work, Cochran counters with the following:

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