South Park (Not Suitable for Children) Review
It wasn’t until after the COVID pandemic started to die down that I ever heard about the website called Onlyfans. While I won’t say where I learned about it, it didn’t take me long to learn what it was about: sex and money. People can use it to make money off donations subscribers send them in exchange for videos and photos of them. And, while not everyone on there uses it for this, many use it to post erotic pictures and videos. And some of them have enough followers to make thousands of dollars a week off their accounts.
On the one hand, it seems like a concerning sign on people’s loosening of morals and what’s considered appropriate to do. On the other hand, I can’t help but respect the hustle and understand how it can help with badly needed income. On the other other hand, what happens if a minor watches it?
In hindsight, it seems obvious that South Park would make fun of OnlyFans. And they didn’t stop there: they made fun of the entire concept of social media influencers and what they’re doing. Hence my surprise when I saw an ad for a new South Park special.
As a YouTuber, I’d find this whole thing insulting if it weren’t so dang funny.
OnlyFans Comes to South Park
After an initial opening focusing on the new energy drink fad the kids are into (more on that later), the crux of the special comes to light when its revealed one of the teachers at South Park Elementary got caught making OnlyFans videos. Most of the adults and parents are left in an uproar about this. When their kids inevitably learn about this online and see what one of their teachers is doing, how could that influence them? Most parents are up in arms about it.
To the show’s credit, Vice-Principal Strong Woman does point out the other side of the argument. Teachers get paid far less than they should, and this teacher in particular could make an average of $10K a week off donations. The chance of making that much money off something that requires far less effort than most jobs is a very tempting prospect for people. Plus, earning money on OnlyFans is legal, and the people are within their rights to do so.
Like I said before, while I don’t quite approve of what most people do on OnlyFans, I also understand the motivation. It’s a marketable way to make money, and their choice. Plus, much of the more explicit material is locked behind a subscription that people have to pay once a month.
So, how does South Park respond to all of this? By having Randy start an OnlyFans! It’s as cringe as you can imagine.
Randy Marsh Reaches New Levels of Cringe
After hearing how much money that one teacher made on OnlyFans, Randy gets dollar signs in his eyes and decides to make his own account. Thus, for the majority of the episode, viewers are subjected to the sight of Randy walking around airing everything out. No pixels or censors whatsoever, much to Sharon’s open disgust, and fans amusement/disgust.
I don’t know why, but the sight of Randy Marsh, who is neither smart nor attractive, thinking he can just sit naked in front of a camera and expect people to pay him, is pretty funny. What makes it even funnier, though, is that when Sharon retaliates by making her own OnlyFans, she starts raking in dough. It’s a not-so-subtle rip on the fact that the biggest people on OnlyFans are women either dressing up or doing explicit activities for viewers enjoyment. It’s inherently stacked in a women’s favor!
Unfortunately, Randy only doubles down by using the power of trend surfing to cheat the system and get views. In this case, using the new, totally not for kids Cred, a parody of the Prime energy drink that’s popular with kids right now. He thinks its harmless because both OnlyFans and Cred are for adults only, so kids won’t watch it.
It seems Randy forgot one important fact: plenty of kids and teens don’t listen when something’s labeled for adults only. By the episode’s end, Randy’s in hot water with the FBI for exposing himself to miners and encouraging them to do what he is.
That wasn’t a typo; there’s an entire slideshow of old miner photo’s with the miner’s junk hanging out. That got a big laugh out of me.
Maybe Social Media Influencers aren’t All they’re Cracked up to Be
Meanwhile, the other half of the special focuses on the Cred drink craze that’s taken over the minds of all the kids in South Park. The only one who doesn’t get into it is, surprisingly, Clyde, and it’s because his Dad and his girlfriend won’t get it for him. However, seeing every other kid enjoying it and getting bombarded by influencers promoting it wears Clyde down to the point where he has to get some Cred for himself. That leads to him, Cartman, Butters, and Tweek trying to get their hands on a limited edition Cred drink in Pueblo to keep their cred.
The riot that follows is supposed to be a parody of a similar one caused by another influencer recently. And after seeing the carnage that ensues, Clyde leads the others in trying to find out who’s responsible.
This is where the two plots start to converge as the big message the show’s trying to get across becomes more obvious. When social media first started, people posted videos of themselves doing entertaining things for the sake of it. Then some of those people got popular enough that they could make a living off of it. From there, it was only a matter of time before people with money got dollar signs in their eyes and realized they could get publicity by sponsoring these influencers. Now, some of the biggest influencers on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are the ones paid by others to promote products, including to people whom they claimed aren’t meant to enjoy them.
That Explains the Lack of Ads
So, in the end, South Park is throwing shade at Logan Paul and KSI for their Prime drink and it’s marketing towards youths. It even calls them out for knowingly doing this despite saying it’s not for kids. It’s making fun of OnlyFans while also not disregarding its positives regarding income and sexuality. And it’s throwing shade at the people who knowingly target kids while actively claiming they don’t.
As for Clyde, he does get his Cred, as well as Cartman and the others. However, it doesn’t change the fact that he was manipulated by adults in the worst way possible.
The best part to this special, though, is the fact that Paramount released it with little to no warning, catching everyone by surprise. What a Holiday gift!
