Comedy Central has canceled a rerun of a South Park episode parodying Charlie Kirk amid accusations that the cartoon caused his death. The finger-pointing likely has little to do with this decision, but the whole ordeal has social media talking about South Park getting canceled altogether.
Meanwhile, the left keeps pointing out that Kirk approved of the episode, to no avail.
Why are people blaming South Park for Charlie Kirk's death?
Turning Point USA founder and professional right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk died on Wednesday after an unidentified gunman shot him in the neck during one of his campus events.
That night, Comedy Central was set to air reruns of South Park season 27, but pulled the one mocking Kirk for obvious reasons.
Although the episode, titled "Got a Nut," does not depict the man directly, Eric Cartman takes up the role of the pundit by challenging kids at his elementary school to debate him. He calls himself a "master debater" and sports a haircut much like Kirk's.
On the same day, MAGA X account @TheMagaHulk drew over 2.7 million views by blaming South Park for the shooting and demanding its cancellation.
"Trey Parker and Matt Stone have blood on their hands," they wrote. "Remove South Park from all streaming services."
It wasn't long before Community Notes arrived to point out Kirk's positive response to the episode. After it aired in July, the far-right commentator went on Fox News to say that he was a long-time fan of the show and laughed at their depiction of him.
He even made a big deal out of being able to take the joke.
"We as conservatives should be able to take a joke, we shouldn’t take ourselves so seriously–that’s something that the left has always done," he said.
"South Park is slowly killing conservatives"
South Park fans and even some of the leftists the show has targeted came out of the woodwork to defend it, arguing that the connection is downright absurd.
"Blaming South Park for the murder of Charlie Kirk is stupid," said entertainment news outlet GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT on X. "Stop it."
User @yfcherries joked about a "guy who first heard of Charlie Kirk from South Park two weeks ago and thought 'yeah I’m gonna go kill that guy.'”
It wasn't long before people were making jokes about the very idea. Everybody loves a good conspiracy theory spiral.
Others were even less kind with their jokes on the subject.
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