The first time Kanye West was featured on South Park (there have been a few), he was the butt of a joke he didn’t understand, but the real Kanye was still just a guy with an outsized ego Matt Stone and Trey Parker thought it’d be fun to goof on.
On last night’s season 26 premiere, though, there were bigger fish(sticks) to fry.
Since the season 13 episode “Fishsticks,” the real-life Kanye has set fire to his career, going on a whirlwind press tour of antisemitic claims and alienating just about everyone close to him, from labelmates to business partners and even his ex-wife.
That self-immolation was the focus of “Cupid Ye,” in which Cartman, in a fit of jealousy over Stan’s friendship with a Black student, drops some Kanye-inspired misinformation hoping to drive a wedge between them.
Cartman then goes on his own antisemitic conspiracy theory press run, wearing the same outfit worn by Kanye during his interviews with Alex Jones’s InfoWars. Cartman also meets the titular “Cupid Ye,” a fairy-like representation of what looks like Cartman in a Yeezy hoodie.
The series regular tells the little pixie, “Ever since you changed your name and got all into Jesus, you got a little batsh*t crazy, Cupid Ye.” Not exactly subtle.
The last time South Park mocked Kanye, the rapper didn’t take it well. In his 2010 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy song “Gorgeous,” Kanye snapped he wanted to “choke a South Park writer with a fish stick” after fans took to calling him “gay fish” in real life.
A Cheesecake Factory employee even reportedly brought him a plate of fish sticks as a joke. Something tells me fewer people will be taking this one as lightly — and Kanye’s response might not be as nice either.
You can watch the episode on South Park’s website.
