South Park controversies

South Park is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Its frequent depiction of taboo subject matter, unusual humor and portrayal of religion for comic effect has generated controversy and debate throughout the world over the course of its 20 seasons. Stone and Parker, who both continue to be heavily involved in the writing and production of each episode, use the show frequently to lampoon a wide range of topics and both sides of contentious issues.

Parker and Stone usually reply to such controversies by regarding themselves as "equal opportunity offenders". They reject the notion of political correctness, and state that no particular topic or group of people will be spared the expense of being subject to mockery and satire, out of fairness to any person or group of people who have been ridiculed before.

In the United States, South Park is rated TV-MA: This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17. TV-MA: This program may contain one or more of the following: crude indecent language (L), strong sexual content (S), or graphic violence (V). To note, some episodes on syndication have been reclassified TV-14.

In Australia, the first three seasons and some episodes in season 4, were rated M: Recommended for mature audiences 15 years and over. The M rating is unrestricted and moderate in impact, and it is equivalent to America's TV-14 rating. The latter seasons are rated MA15+, which is a rating restricted for people over 15 years, and is strong in impact. Despite being rated M on television, the season 3 DVD set was the first season to receive an MA15+ rating. The consumer advice usually goes as follows; Adult themes (A), coarse language (L), sexual references (S) and/or animated violence (V). Depending on the rating, the terms "moderate" and "strong" precede these descriptions.

In the United Kingdom, the show is generally rated 15, until season 7 when it gets an 18 rating due to the audio commentaries (the episodes are only rated 15). However, some episodes, such as those in the first four seasons do have a 12 rating (Cartman Gets an Anal Probe). Furthermore, the season 3 DVD set was originally rated 18 in the UK, Canada and Ireland, due to the content of the final episode, World Wide Recorder Concert (which contains references to child molestation). It was re-rated 15 in the UK upon its re-release in 2008, although in Ireland it is still rated 18, as a number of episodes in the latter seasons.

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