With Apologies to Jesse Jackson

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South Park episode
"With Apologies to Jesse Jackson"


Randy Marsh on Wheel of Fortune, where a suggestive letter order appears
Episode no. 154
Airdate March 7, 2007
South Park - Season 11
March 7, 2007 – TBA
  1. With Apologies to Jesse Jackson
  2. Cartman Sucks
  3. Lice Capades
  4. The Snuke
  5. Fantastic Easter Special
  6. D-Yikes!

Season 10  

List of all South Park episodes

"With Apologies to Jesse Jackson" is the 154th episode of Comedy Central's animated comedy series South Park and the premiere episode of the show's 11th season. It first aired March 7, 2007. This episode referenced an incident at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, California, in which actor Michael Richards angrily shouted racial slurs at a black audience member who was reportedly heckling him.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Randy Marsh appears on Wheel of Fortune. He is presented in the bonus round with a puzzle whose category is "People Who Annoy You," and solved letters "N_GGERS." He thinks he knows the answer, but is reluctant to say it out loud. With five seconds to go and $30,000 on the line, he calls out his guess: "NIGGERS," on live national television, shocking his family, friends and millions of viewers.

Randy says "niggers" on national television.
Randy says "niggers" on national television.

The answer, it turns out, was "NAGGERS," and Randy not only lost but embarrassed himself and his family on national television.

The next day at school, Eric Cartman warns Stan that Token is going to be mad at him, so he attempts to explain to Token that his father meant no harm in uttering the "N-word" ("My dad isn't a racist, he's just stupid"), and that it's "not a big deal." Token counters that he (Stan) doesn't understand how black people feel about that word, and that he is "ignorant" for not understanding that even if it was a mistake, it is still a big deal. Despite Cartman's attempts to blow the event up into a "race war," Token simply walks away angrily, after which Cartman lifts up Stan's hand and announces that "Whites win again!".

Randy attempts to rectify his mistake by making an official apology to Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jackson accepts his apology after getting a picture of Randy literally "kissing his black ass". Stan thinks everything is okay now, but Token doesn't accept this, angrily telling him that "Jesse Jackson is not the emperor of black people!" (despite Jackson apparently telling Randy that he was). Meanwhile, Randy goes to a comedy club and the black comedian recognizes him in the audience. He points him out and makes jokes, calling him "the nigger guy," which soon catches on as Randy's new epithet.

Back at school, a dwarf by the name of Dr. David Nelson is called in to give a presentation on sensitivity. Having written several books about acceptance and tolerance, he insists that "words are like bullets; they go through me" and that no word or insult can hurt him. However, as soon as Cartman sees him he begins to laugh hysterically and loudly, disrupting the assembly so that Dr. Nelson cannot speak. Dr. Nelson decides to teach Cartman a lesson. He does this by first showing one-on-one his technique of not being offended; and when that doesn't work, by making the other kids mock his weight problem (by saying "Hello, fatso!"). Neither of these techniques are successful.

Randy continues trying to redeem himself by founding a scholarship for African-Americans, hoping that by doing so he will finally erase his identity as "the nigger guy." However, he is soon accosted by a gang of socially progressive rednecks, who hunt the "nigger guy" and threaten to kill him for "insulting an entire race on national television." Soon a group of other "nigger guys," including Michael Richards and Mark Fuhrman, show up with guns, and the rednecks leave.

Michael Richards and Randy Marsh.
Michael Richards and Randy Marsh.

They invite Randy to join their organization, telling him that they are all "nigger guys", people who have become pariahs for the use of the word "nigger". They devise a plan to end the discrimination against them. They successfully lobby Congress to ban the term "nigger guy" and a law is passed saying that the word "nigger" must always be separated at least seven words from the word "guy," causing a news broadcaster to be arrested when he says that the term "nigger guy" is banned.

Dr. Nelson fights Cartman
Dr. Nelson fights Cartman

While Stan and Token still struggle to make up, Cartman and Dr. Nelson begin their final showdown: a wrestling match. Cartman manages to maintain the upper hand throughout the fight, pins Dr. Nelson, and forces him to submit by saying both "uncle" and "Carol Anne, don't go into the light!" for Cartman's amusement. After Cartman has clearly beaten him, Dr. Nelson gets up and knocks Cartman down while he's not looking, and Dr. Nelson claims to have won. Cartman is only dazed for a few seconds and then continues to laugh at Dr. Nelson.

Dr. Nelson leaves the scene of the fight remarking that he has proved his point. Stan and Kyle say that they have no idea what his point is, but then Stan concludes that not knowing the point is the point. He explains to Token that, as a white person, he will never understand why Token is so upset by the word, and why it can make black people mad when a white person says it in any context. Token is finally satisfied that Stan gets that he doesn't get it, thus creating an understanding between them.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Cultural references

  • While Randy Marsh is reading his poetry, there is a picture of Hunter S. Thompson and one of John Coltrane in the background of his set.
  • The comedy club in this episode, "The Laugh Factory", is the same place where Michael Richards made his infamous racial slur. Although the real Laugh Factory is located in California, it was in Colorado in the episode. Also, because of the Michael Richards incident, The Laugh Factory has banned the use of the word "nigger", a word the stand-up comic on stage uses a few times.
  • Eric Cartman makes a reference to the popular video website YouTube, saying "Dude, that was the funniest thing I've ever seen. I watched it on YouTube about 60 times." Ironically, Viacom, Comedy Central's parent company, has recently forbidden YouTube from hosting its copyrighted material and thus clips of this episode were removed. In addition, Viacom has filed a lawsuit against YouTube.
  • The song that plays during the fight scene and the end credits is Down with the Sickness by the band Disturbed.
  • The way in which Michael Richards scolds Randy about being "just another damn nigger guy" is a reference to a scene from the movie Glory.
  • After Cartman wanted Dr. Nelson to say uncle, he also wanted him to say "Carol Anne, don't go into the light," a quote from the movie Poltergeist. This was uttered by Zelda Rubinstein in the movie.

[edit] Trivia

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  • During the Wheel of Fortune round, when the first few letters appear, the panels turn blue and Vanna touches them to make them appear. When the A in NAGGERS pops up, however, Vanna turns the panel, as in the game's old format.
  • The term "nigger" is used 42 times in the episode, all of them uncensored, except in the initial few runs' closed captioning, which changed every incidence of "nigger" to "n-word" or "n-guy", except Randy's original utterance of the word. Later runs had the captions uncensored.
  • An "updated version" of the episode aired March 9th, in which a short scene is added before the comedy club scene, Dr. Nelson actually turns red, and the kids shouting "Good morning, fatso!" is corrected to "Hello, fatso!".
  • All of the profanity involved was uncensored, for the first time, on the iTunes Store and Xbox Live Marketplace.
  • The free letters given to Randy (RTSLE) differ from the letters given in the the real Wheel of Fortune (RSTLNE).
  • The "socially progressive" rednecks were obviously a pun on the redneck stereotype, as rednecks are often protrayed as socially conservative.

[edit] Praise

This episode had a news broadcast on CNN in the days following the airing of this episode. Many people who were interviewed in the broadcast were campaigners trying to get the word "nigger" banned, or African-Americans. They mostly praised this episode, saying it was a good example of how it felt to be called the word they were trying to get banned.

[edit] References


    Preceded by
    "Stanley's Cup"
    South Park episodes Followed by
    "Cartman Sucks"
    In other languages