South Park takes on Caitlyn Jenner

Trans former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner is going to feature on South Park.

The all-new episodes from this season will be available in HD exclusively on Hulu and South Park Studios the day after they premiere. Unsurprisingly, the episode also rather bluntly points out that sometimes making politically incorrect jokes is the best way to highlight and challenge prejudice-something South Park knows a little about. PC Principal’s first scene captured this perfectly, as he went through a laundry list of awful things the town had said and done over the years, from their frequent use of the R-word to a white man pretending to be Chinese and building a wall around the city to keep Mongolians out. The show that kicks convention in the ass even though the characters’ legs never move, which was just renewed in July for another three seasons, begins its 19th season on Wednesday. The episode keeps its scope quite broad, and while “outrage culture” is certainly more prominent now than it was in the previous years, the theme still comes off as a bit repetitive for fans of the show.

Named “One of the All-Time Greatest TV Shows” by Entertainment Weekly, Comedy Central’s “South Park” launched on August 13, 1997. And, impressively for a show that depends on transgressive humor for much of its success, South Park actually did a nuanced, precise, and above all amusing job in its critique of the dreaded PC police.

“South Park” has dared to ask whether everyone must believe Caitlyn Jenner is a hero. PC Principal hears that Kyle told a fourth grade girl that Caitlyn Jenner is not a hero, an inexcusable offence in the eyes of the new educator.

The premiere episode is titled “Stunning and fearless “, which could be a nod to Kris Jenner’s quote calling Cait’s Arthur Ashe Courage Award speech at the ESPYS Awards “amazing and very courageous “. The plot revolves around Kyle’s refusal to agree that Jenner is a hero. Randy was invited into the PC frat, which gave Eric the last laugh, which is what he planned all along. This was an episode about political correctness and the dialogue it can create in a community – online or otherwise.

South Park still matters, but “pointing out the obvious” is not enough.