"Chef Goes Nanners" is the seventh episode of the
fourth season of the animated television series ''
South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
'', and the 55th episode of the series overall. It is eighth in production order. "Chef Goes Nanners" originally aired in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
on
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
on July 5, 2000.
In the episode,
Chef
A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...
's passionate protest declaring the South Park flag
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
inflames the entire town. The kids separate into two opposing camps and prepare to debate the issue.
Stan and
Kyle
Kyle or Kyles may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Kyle, Saskatchewan, Canada
Ireland
* Kyle, County Laois
* Kyle, County Wexford
Scotland
* Kyle, Ayrshire, area of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern-day East Ayrshire and South Ayrshir ...
champion the current flag while
Wendy
Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries.
In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...
and
Cartman head up the side for a new flag. Meanwhile, Wendy finds herself strangely attracted to Cartman.
Plot
Jimbo
Jimbo is a diminutive form of the given name James. It is also a Japanese surname, and it means state or province in Swahili. It may refer to:
Given name or nickname
* Jimbo (drag queen), Canadian drag queen
* Jimbo Aquino (born 1985), Filipin ...
and
Chef
A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...
visit
Mayor McDaniels' office, arguing about the South Park town flag: Jimbo wants to keep it, for it has been around since the time of the town's founding; Chef, however, insists it is
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
. The South Park flag depicts four white figures
hanging a black one on a gallows, inciting Chef's indignation and leads him to believe that the whole town is
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
. Chef immediately starts to rally support in order to change the flag. Neither he nor Jimbo can gather a lot of support, as very few townspeople have strong opinions either way on the issue. In school, the class is assigned to debate the "Change the Flag" issue. Stan and Kyle lead the team that wants to keep the flag the same, while
Wendy
Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries.
In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...
and
Cartman lead the side that wants to change it (with Cartman only volunteering presumably to irritate Wendy). During lunch,
Stan and
Kyle
Kyle or Kyles may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Kyle, Saskatchewan, Canada
Ireland
* Kyle, County Laois
* Kyle, County Wexford
Scotland
* Kyle, Ayrshire, area of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern-day East Ayrshire and South Ayrshir ...
ask Chef for help, not knowing he had just converted to
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. Upon hearing that they think that the flag should not be changed, Chef gets agitated and verbally abusive towards the boys, who have no idea why Chef is so upset about the flag.
Wendy leads her team in the library when Cartman suddenly interrupts the process with his own strategy. He gets the team to dig up some dirt on Stan and Kyle, hoping to win the debate with ''
ad hominem
''Ad hominem'' (), short for ''argumentum ad hominem'' (), refers to several types of arguments, most of which are fallacious.
Typically, this term refers to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other ...
'' attacks on their credibility. Meanwhile, Kyle and Stan are at Kyle's father's law office studying how freedom of speech is an issue with the flag. While this is going on,
Kenny
Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names.
In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant ...
eats 60
antacid
An antacid is a substance which neutralizes stomach acidity and is used to relieve heartburn, indigestion or an upset stomach. Some antacids have been used in the treatment of constipation and diarrhea. Marketed antacids contain salts of alumi ...
tablets, believing they were mints, and then takes a drink of water, causing himself to explode. At the City Hall, members of the
KKK march up, loudly voicing their support for the current flag as a symbol of "
white power
White pride and white power are expressions primarily used by white separatist, white nationalist, fascist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations in order to signal racist or racialist viewpoints. It is also a slogan used by the prominen ...
". This causes discomfort amongst Jimbo, Ned, and a number of the other flag supporters: they do not wish to be sided on any issue with the Klan. To remedy this problem, Jimbo and Ned infiltrate the clan and suggest that if they want the flag to remain unchanged, they should advocate that the flag ''should'' be changed, because the majority of people will always vote against whatever the Klan wants. The leader embraces the idea, and the Klan switches sides. After Ned and Jimbo escape, they run into Chef while still wearing their Klan robes. Chef, mistakenly believing they are KKK members, drives off in anger before they can even explain, but not before splattering them both with mud from his car.
The mayor fails to appease Chef by revising the flag so that the black stick figure being hanged appears to be smiling, and decides not to make the decision herself. She lets the kids' debate club decide the fate of the flag. This puts a lot of pressure on Wendy, who, in their study sessions, suddenly begins to feel attracted to Cartman. This scares Wendy, because Stan's her boyfriend and she and Cartman actually hate each other. Bebe later explains the concept of
sexual tension
Sexual tension is a social phenomenon that occurs when two individuals interact and one or both feel sexual desire, but the consummation is postponed or never happens. A common scenario is where the two individuals function in proximity, such as c ...
to her, advising that she should kiss Cartman just to get it out of her system. During the debate, Wendy is distracted because she is attracted to Cartman and cannot deliver her opening remarks. She walks over and kisses him in front of the whole town, breaking the built-up tension and leaving Stan shocked. After this, she is able to continue her standpoint by claiming that the flag should be changed because of it depicting violence towards people. When the turn of Stan's team comes, Kyle gives their side of the issue by saying that killing is just a natural part of life and should not be a big deal. Shortly afterwards, Chef stands up and demands they address the racist aspect of the flag, only for him and the rest of the adults to discover that the children had not even perceived the flag as racist; Instead, they saw the flag depicting a man being hanged without registering his color, and they had just thought that the issue at hand was about
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
.
Chef is touched by this, and, while still acknowledging that he thinks the flag should be changed, he admits that when he believed the whole town was racist and threw the slur "
cracker" around, ''he'' was the one being racist. Jimbo also apologizes for being on the KKK's side and tells Chef that he has no problem with black people; Chef in return assures Jimbo that he recognizes him as a good man. After Jimbo and Chef decide to come to a
compromise
To compromise is to make a deal between different parties where each party gives up part of their demand. In arguments, compromise is a concept of finding agreement through communication, through a mutual acceptance of terms—often involving var ...
, Kyle declares that they do not need to debate anymore, although Stan is still frozen with shock after seeing Wendy kissing Cartman. In the end,
ethnic diversity
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...
is added to the flag: the black stick figure is now being hanged by a group of stick figures of differents colors, including a black one to prevent racism. Chef delivers the moral of this story: his inclination to anti-racism almost made him a racist himself, and that perceiving things according to race leads only to further racism.
In the final scene, Wendy says that she is glad that everything is over with and that her feelings for Cartman have disappeared. Cartman agrees and laughs nervously. Wendy runs after Stan, calling his name, leaving Cartman completely alone. After a few moments, Cartman sighs and walks away sadly, implying that he might have started to develop genuine feelings for Wendy.
Production
According to the DVD commentary, the episode was based on the initial controversy over the display of the
Confederate flag
The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...
at the
South Carolina State House
The South Carolina State House is the building housing the government of the U.S. state of South Carolina, which includes the South Carolina General Assembly and the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. Located in t ...
.
Co-creator Matt Stone has characterized "Chef Goes Nanners" as "kind of half-baked. I remember we wanted to leave the office early. We were like, 'It's the
4th of July...'"
References
External links
"Chef Goes Nanners"Full episode at South Park Studios
*
{{South Park episodes, 4
Television episodes about Islam
South Park (season 4) episodes
Television episodes about censorship
Television episodes about the Ku Klux Klan