PREACH It! 'Family Guy' may employ manatees, but 'South Park' risks eating crow

No Cheesy Poofs for the producers of "South Park" this week: The people behind the hit show are being accused — for the second time — of essentially stealing material.

An outfit called Brownmark Films has filed a suit in U.S. District Court, alleging that the animated series ripped off a viral video that Brownmark released in 2007. The video was based on a Samwell song called — wait for it — "What What (In the Butt)/"

Per the Hollywood Reporter, "What What (In the Butt)" is one of the most viewed music videos of all time.

You're welcome.

In 2008, South Park did its own version of "What What (In the Butt)" — we'll type that as often as we like, thank you very much — in a sendup featuring the popular character Butters as a stand-in for Samwell. (I guess you had to be there.)

Brownmark is calling the spoof an infringement of its copyright, describing the sequence as "willful, intentional, and purposeful, in disregard of and indifferent to the rights of Brownmark."

(Comedy Central, for its part, says the sequence falls under the protection of free speech: "Courts have consistently recognized that parody enjoys broad protections under the First Amendment and the Copyright Act," it said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter. "We believe 'South Park's' parody of the 'What What [In the Butt]' viral music video that appeared in the 2008 episode of 'South Park' entitled 'Canada on Strike' is fully protected against any copyright infringement claims under the fair-use doctrine and the First Amendment and we plan to vigorously defend those rights."
)

But like we've said, this isn't the first time the "South Park" crew has faced these kinds of accusations. Less than a month ago, show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker found themselves apologizing to writers Dan Gurewitch and David Young shortly after a very loyal take on a Gurewitch-Young video appeared on "South Park." Get this: The scene in question was a spoof of a spoof — of the movie "Inception" to be specific.

It's all very meta.

Anyway, for longtime fans of "South Park," this news may hold more than a touch of irony. After all, Parker and Stone have not hesitated to skewer other shows over lazy writing — "Family Guy," for example. One "South Park" episode, a two-parter called "Cartoon Wars," imagined the "Family Guy" writing staff as a pod of trained manatees who put together their jokes by tapping on brightly colored toy balls with random words on them.

It was a funny sequence. The manatees wrote terrible, incomprehensible gags that were nearly as bad as the stuff that actually airs on "Family Guy."

But at least no one has accused Seth McFarlane's crack sea-mammal writing squad of stealing their material.

— Leslie Gornstein

Top photo: "South Park" creators Matt Stone, left, and Trey Parker. Credit: Michael Yarish / Comedy Central.

Right photo: The "Family Guy" writing staff? Not exactly. Credit: Associated Press.

 

Comments

[susieq]

Good thing it wasn't "What, What in the Muslim Butt" or they'd be dead.

[FG101]

As funny and socially relevant as South Park is, Family Guy is by far the funniest show on TV. Yes the manatees were funny, but Family Guy is off the wall and brilliant! The "cut-away" scenes are hilarious, and the stories themselves are side-splitting as well! The writers at Family Guy don't rely on the cutaways, they're just part of the show. The writers for Family Guy always keep the show hilarious and entertaining. Though South Park is hilarious as well, Family Guy episodes are much more involved and when it comes to politics, they make fun of themselves, as well as everybody else, and show both sides of an argument. South Park episodes from time to time are very predictable. It's good that both shows push limits, but Family Guy writing is just better and funnier. As for the claim against South Park in question here, hasn't almost every TV show aried a spoof of an online video? And wasn't this episode aired 2 years ago? Way to keep up there brownmark. It should be taken as a good gesture to have an internet video aired, spoofed, or alteast referenced on TV. This claim is a bit silly. To end, Family Guy is funnier, this claim makes no sense. Thank You.

[Brad]

You're missing the entire point. That episode was based on internet celebrities. Why didn't any on else portrayed in that episode sue South Park? Or even anyone else throughout the entire series? Because they can't, as South Park are protected by law. This entire case will be thrown out, and people like leslie here will look like a fool, for writing such a misguided article.

[Brad]

lol comments are moderated. You'll probably not publish my comments to protect your ego. Why is it moderated anyway? So that you'll show only comments which agree with your opinion, to make it seem people are on your side?

[Brad]

And for the record, Family Guy has been critisized for over a decade for being stealing conceopts from The Simpsons. Why didn't you mentioned that? You're probably a Family Guy fan, hence this seemingly biased article was written.

[cdz from the ministry]

@Brad -- Christie D'Zurilla here from MOG with a gentle reminder to chill. It's pretty much *me* moderating the comments and in the 10 minutes or so since you submitted your first of three comments, I have been busy writing another post.

I've been known to take breaks for meals, bathroom trips and sleep as well. Short ones, of course.

And to answer your question, we moderate to keep out profanity, racial and other slurs, libel, spam and malicious links.

//cdz

[Jack]

May be "South Park" has jumped the shark? I find myself viewing more and more Family Guy and away from the infantile humor of South Park.