"Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" (sometimes shortened to "Cartman's Hate Crime") is episode 50 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It first aired on April 12, 2000, and begins a four-episode run of titles ending in "2000". As explained in the FAQ section on the official website: "When the year 2000 was coming up, everyone and their brother had '2000' in the titles of their products and TV shows. America was obsessed with 2000, so Trey Parker put '2000' in the titles to make fun of the ubiquity of the phrase. Although this was the first episode to use the 2000 title, the previous episode World Wide Recorder Concert was the first episode to air in the year 2000.

Plot

The third grade girls, led by Lizzy, challenge the boys to a sled race down Phil Collins Hill. After the boys accept, Cartman gets into an argument with Token, because he kept calling Cartman a 'fatass'. Cartman says if he Token calls him a fatass once more, he would throw a rock at his face. Kyle then calls Cartman a fatass instead, but Cartman thinks it was Token again, and he ends up throwing the rock at Token, giving him a black eye in the process. Because Token is African-American, Cartman is convicted of a hate crime, and sentenced to juvenile prison until he reaches the age of 21.

The boys realize that without Cartman's weight on the back of their sled, they are doomed to lose. Clyde takes over for Cartman, since he is the second fattest in the grade, and everyone emediately start calling him fatass. Clyde tries to get them to stop, and yells "God dammit," seeing that he is like Cartman. In addition, Token is willing to forgive Cartman, but Token's father, who is himself against hate crime laws, tells the boys they will have to convince the governor in order to free Cartman. The boys then put on a presentation before the governor, complete with visual aids, in which they detail their opposition to hate crime laws. The governor is impressed.

Meanwhile, Cartman adapts to life in prison by smuggling in things for his cellmate, Romper Stomper, who, along with Cartman, escapes the prison. They are caught by the authorities, who take Romper Stomper back to the prison, but who tell Cartman that he has been pardoned by the governor. Cartman returns home, arriving at the sled race just as they are about to begin, and helps the boys beat the girls.

Cartman goes back to jail to pay a visit to Romper, who has always wanted to see Disneyland, and grants his wish by defecating it (off-camera), having smuggled it in his rectum.

Production

The music heard when Cartman is first brought into juvenile prison, and in the establishing shots of subsequent scenes at the prison, is taken from the HBO TV drama Oz. Trey Parker and Matt Stone explain on the DVD Commentary for this episode that they asked the producers of Oz permission to use it, and learned that the producers of that series were fans of South Park, and agreed.

References