Oh yes, Jennifer Lopez was dating Ben Affleck at the time. Affleck had already been the subject of “South Park” ridicule when they revealed he was the long lost son of the Thompsons. You may not have noticed this, but the Thompsons have buttocks where their heads should be. In that episode, “South Park” used an actual photo of Affleck’s face. Here it is an animated caricature like the J-Lo character.
Just as the record executives didn’t blink at a singing appendage, Affleck follows suit. He knows he’s supposed to be dating J-Lo. Apparently it doesn’t matter if it’s the person J-Lo or the hand puppet J-Lo. Cartman didn’t count on Affleck’s pursuit and this is part of the comeuppance he deserves. Affleck is really into Cartman’s J-Lo, and he seems oblivious to the fact that she’s attached to a nine-year-old, and he goes all the way with her. That’s right, this episode of “South Park” implies that Cartman gave Ben Affleck a hand job, or not even really implies. It definitely happened, and it still makes me laugh out loud. It’s so wrong, yet makes complete sense if you’re tackling the Bennifer issue.
“J-Lo”’s fame and Affleck’s passion escalate to ridiculous heights as the other “South Park” boys can’t believe no one else seems to realize this is just Cartman talking out of the side of his mouth and using his hand. Since the world accepts the hand puppet as J-Lo, the only way out for Cartman is to essentially fake J-Lo’s death. He comes up with the story of Mitch Connor, because a man living on Cartman’s hand pretending to be Jennifer Lopez is way more believable than hand puppet Jennifer Lopez not being real.
“South Park” treats the breakup with Affleck like a tragedy, with their overwrought irreverence for sure. But the character of Affleck is really heartbroken. The episode even toys with the possibility that Mitch Connor was real. So many other weird things happened for “real” on “South Park,” from Scuzzlebutt to Mr. Hanky. Why wouldn’t Mitch Connor be part of that world? But no, this time it was just Cartman being an A-hole.
So many things going on in this episode. It really blew apart the whole Bennifer situation by suggesting that Affleck would behave the same way towards anyone, or anything, called Jennifer Lopez. Affleck would again bear ridicule in Parker and Stone’s Team America song “The End of an Act” about how bad he was in Pearl Harbor. It may seem like a pot shot to say Affleck would date a kid’s hand puppet as easily as the celebrity with whom he was supposedly in love, but I think the comment on the frivolity of celebrity romances, at least our superficial interest in them, was poignant.
This is also very much about how racist Cartman is, but it’s sort of making fun of racism, in that he’s so racist his stereotypes are nonsense. It’s bad that Cartman does a stereotypical accent and talks about tacos and probably the only Latin person he’s ever heard of, Jennifer Lopez. But taco flavored kisses is funny. It’s like an idiot’s idea of what racism should be.
“Fat Butt” also gets a little meta about the nature of “South Park” itself. By season seven, they were getting to the point where they had commented on everything else, the only thing left to comment on was themselves. So they start to address how ridiculous things occur in South Park as reality. They follow it through to a logical conclusion that the premise so doesn’t deserve, but that’s what makes it awesome. Then they still have the sense to say, “Nah, not this time.”
There are surely some episodes that have higher emotional payoffs – the Terry Schiavo episode and “Raisins” come to mind – but it’s in there with Affleck, and Kyle’s legitimate anger that racism is going unchecked. This is the perfect balance of “South Park” elements though. It’s got celebrities, social issues (fame/celebrity and racism), catchy if ridiculous music, and a little plain old bad taste.
This is is the Best Episode Ever. Or maybe it’s the one where they say sh** 172 times, I don’t know.
