GLAAD Unhappy with ‘South Park’s Use of the F-Word

There is no doubt that uttering the word “fag” in the United States has rightfully become ultra politically incorrect. However, if you ever want to get a kick out of hearing it said, our gift-from-the-heavens ‘South Park’ is there for you.

However, The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is not laughing at what is among the finest ‘South Park’ episodes of recent memory.

Through a statement GLADD had this to say:

On Wednesday, November 4, Comedy Central aired a new episode of South Park entitled “The F-Word,” in which the show’s characters repeat the titular anti-gay slur countless times. Like many other South Park episodes that use edgy humor to provide commentary on current issues, last night’s episode was an attempt to examine the evolving definition of words. Yet despite what the South Park writers may believe, the definition of the F-word remains one that is harmful and derogatory to the LGBT community.

Though this seems to represent a well-intentioned effort by the creators of South Park to delegitimize a vulgar anti-gay slur, the fact is that the word is and remains a hateful slur that is often part of the harassment, bullying and violence that gay people, and gay youth in particular, experience on a daily basis in this country. It is an epithet that has real consequences for real people’s lives. Just this year, an 11-year-old Massachusetts student named Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, unable to endure the unrelenting anti-gay bullying and name-calling he experienced at school, committed suicide.

The creators of South Park are right on one important point: more and more people are using the F-word as an all-purpose insult. However, it is irresponsible and wrong to suggest that it is a benign insult or that promoting its use has no consequences for those who are the targets of anti-gay bullying and violence. This is a slur whose meaning remains rooted in homophobia. And while many South Park viewers will understand the sophisticated satire and critique in last night’s episode, others won’t – and if even a small number of those take from this a message that using the “F-word” is OK, it worsens the hostile climate that many in our community continue to face.

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…and there’s the rub. People in their right minds are not interested in hearing this word used to defame gay men and women - there’s just no place for it. However, you have to appreciate the talent it took to frame this episode in a way that explains the evolution of the word, and to leave us with the idea that it will someday soon (perhaps that time is now) have nothing to do with the gay community.

A fact GLADD can’t argue with. Can you?

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