‘South Park’ tackles Penn State controversy

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‘South Park’ once again took full advantage of its last-minute production schedule Wednesday night to become the first fiction program to address the ongoing sexual abuse controversy at Penn State University.

In the episode ‘The Poor Kid,’ Kenny’s parents get arrested for fighting and Kenny (the small one that always tends to get killed) is taken away and interviewed by Child Protective Services. The case worker, perusing his file tells them, ‘I see you kids have all been horribly physically and emotionally abused,’ he says. ‘Oh, whoops! That isn’t your case file. That’s the Penn State University Gazette! Ha ha. I’m joking. That’s just a joke. It is your case file.’

To cheer up the weeping children, the case worker then launches into a comedy routine. ‘A Penn State administrator walks into a bar.... How about this one: Joe Paterno doesn’t walk into a police station. Come on, that’s a good one.’

Later, the case worker attempts his jokes on Eric Cartman, saying, ‘It also says here that Penn State prefers to be losing at halftime, because at Penn State they like when you’re a little behind in the locker room.’

Finally, Cartman stops him, saying, ‘Will you stop with the Penn State jokes? All you’re doing is taking something topical and revamping old Catholic jokes.’

The episode aired on the same day that Comedy Central announced ‘South Park’ would be around for three more seasons, through its 20th airing in 2016.

To hear the rest of the Penn State jokes (the ones that can’t be printed here) watch the full episode here.

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—Patrick Day