Through almost three decades of laughter, some of the best South Park episodes have upset some pretty powerful people. While that’s exactly what Matt Stone and Trey Parker engineered the show to do, it was their infamous outfits from the 72nd Academy Awards in 2000 that resulted in one of their favorite celebrity reactions.
And as it turns out, the stunt that saw Stone and Parker respectively dressed in famous dresses worn by Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez caused JLo herself to react with a pretty pronounced snub on that night’s red carpet. In an interview shared via The GoodSon’s YouTube channel, South Park co-creator/co-star Trey Parker shared what he felt was the best celebrity reaction to one of their collective shenanigans.
Laying out the story of why he thinks the Atlas star was so upset, Parker shared this:
My favorite is – actually and I think it’s because I wore her dress to the Oscars. But we saw Jennifer Lopez at a party, and all Jennifer Lopez did was walk past me and push me. I think that’s pretty cool.
And here I thought the most heated reaction to South Park was that lawsuit between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery for the streaming rights. For those looking for some context, Trey Parker was nominated for “Best Original Song,” on behalf of the South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut song “Blame Canada.” And of course, he took Matt Stone as his plus one to an occasion that naturally calls for attendees to dress to impress.
That story is also shared in the clip below from the documentary 6 Days To Air. However, I share this video not only to show off how they looked in the dresses, but also for their own story about how their mischievous minds had a little more fuel than usual when it came to their choice of wardrobe:
What’s funny is this particular Oscar night may have inspired two absurdly funny gags on South Park. It certainly gave Stone and Parker the seed for a running gag involving the fact that they lost the honors for “Best Original Song” to Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be In My Heart” from Tarzan. Between his appearance in several episodes, as well as the pair’s frequent roasting of the Academy Award winning songwriter through various interviews, that comedic grudge is clear as day.
But I’m wondering if the Season 7 episode “Fat Butt and Pancake Head” was given a little extra as a result of the JLo snub. Sure, Jennifer Lopez’s recollection of “Bennifer” press coverage of her with then fiancé/now husband Ben Affleck as easy tabloid fodder showed how easy a target their relationship happened to be. But learning about this interaction kind of makes me want to go back to that South Park classic and see it with a different, more modern eye.
Okay, so maybe I also want a good laugh from one of my personal favorite episodes. And if you’re looking to head on up to South Park to see if you can’t unwind, the series can be streamed through the powers of a Max subscription.
However, you’ll need a Paramount+ subscription to complete the set, as the more recent special events are exclusives to that platform. So if you’re curious about the recent Lizzo joke from South Park: The End of Obesity, you’ll need to be specific in where you go looking.
