Trey Parker & Matt Stone: Gay Marriage And Guns

Parker and Stone are on no one's side. In the 15 years South Park has been on cable TV, it has been accused of being too conservative, too liberal, too amoral, too moral, too sophisticated and too crude. It is also, repeatedly, cited as one of the greatest television shows of all time and has won a prestigious Peabody award. It has been criticised by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (Glaad) for its use of the word "fag" ("They missed the point," Stone grumbles), and nominated for a Glaad award for outstanding TV for its episode titled Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride.

"Everyone likes you when you're beating up on someone else, then when you turn on them they're like, 'What the fuck?'" laughs Parker...

"The big lie of our whole career is that rightwing fundamentalists are always trying to shut us down," Stone says. "It has literally never happened. The Mormons haven't, the Christians haven't – OK, the Scientologists did, but they don't count. But when we make fun of liberal people, they're like, 'What?!' I think religious conservatives are more used to taking a beating." And as if to antagonise their long-suffering liberal fans even more, Parker announces that the two causes he and Stone believe in are "gay marriage and guns. We're for both of those." [This interview was conducted before the recent shootings in Sandy Hook].

"We're from Colorado, and look at the way Colorado's gone politically in the last few elections," adds Stone, "it's now gay-friendly, weed-friendly, gun-friendly. There's an element of Colorado that I think is in us." Parker nods stoutly.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone interviewed in The Guardian. 
Although I haven't see it I hereby declare The Book Of Mormon to be a work of genius.
It opens in London on February 25th.
Feel free to give me a free ticket, boys.