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| From the Mailbag... | ||||||||||||
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Dateline: 02/07/01 Dear Guide: I've heard twice now that the creators of the cartoon series 'South Park' are pitching a show about the George W. Bush family that intends to portray Bush's daughters as incestuous lesbians. I've searched your site but have not found anything about this. Do you know if it's true or not?
It was true, apparently, but not anymore. Let me explain. Way back before Election Day 2000, the irreverent creators of "South Park," Matt Stone and Trey Parker, were given the green light by Comedy Central to develop a live-action TV series lampooning the new president and his family. Since it was unknown at the time (and, as it turned out, for several weeks following the election) who the new president would be, Stone and Parker made preparations to base the show on either of the possible winners, G.W. Bush or Al Gore. The working title was "Family First." In December, with the outcome of the election still up in the air, the pair decided to assume a Bush victory and started casting the show. The entertainment gossip site Ain't It Cool News immediately obtained a copy of an audition script and published excerpts on the Web, including the following paragraph: [BARBARA AND JENNA BUSH] Fraternal twins, 19 years old, one’s blonde, one’s brunette, and just starting college. Sexy and beautiful, their "sisterly" love would raise anyone’s eyebrows. Raise eyebrows it did. The mainstream media reported a week later that Parker and Stone planned to portray the daughters as "sex-hungry lesbians," prompting an outcry not only from conservative political and religious groups but Comedy Central's own corporate parent, Viacom, as well. Bowing to pressure from all sides, including its own legal advisors, the network announced on Feb. 3 that it had instructed Parker and Stone to remove all references to the Bush twins from the show. The "South Park" moguls said they would comply. "It's just not something worth fighting," Parker was quoted as saying. Supposedly the show had evolved in such a way that the characters weren't needed anyway. Interestingly enough, both Parker and Stone claim to be Republicans and swear their intent is not to ridicule Bush or his family. What do they really think of the new president? One indication is the way Parker characterized both presidential contenders during an interview before the election. "They're both such big dorks," he said, "but Gore is just the biggest dork in the world." One last thing. Don't look for the show to be titled "Family First" as originally planned. When it was discovered that the rights to the name were already owned by the Mormon Church, Parker and Stone had to come up with a different one. Look for "That's My Bush!" to premiere April 2001 on Comedy Central.
'South Park' Guys Get Political | ||||||||||||
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