When ads for this past Wednesday’s season premiere of Comedy Central’s hit animated series South Park hinted that foulmouthed 9-year-old star Eric Cartman would be diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, few fans were surprised when it turned out to be HIV. After all, show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker haven’t exactly shied away from AIDS-related punch lines over the Emmy-winning show’s 11-year run. A March 2002 episode, in fact, declared that it was finally OK to laugh at the disease. However, Wednesday’s episode, “Tonsil Trouble,” examined AIDS in a slightly more serious light…without skimping on the toilet humor.


Cartman gets infected with HIV during a routine tonsillectomy
To recap, Cartman undergoes surgery to have his tonsils removed, but in what a doctor character calls a “one in a billion fluke,” he contracts HIV through a botched blood transfusion. Wearing a ball cap and a scarf—a nod to Tom Hanks’s character in the AIDS drama Philadelphia—Cartman soon learns that while AIDS is still prevalent here in the United States, it has been downgraded from death sentence to “manageable illness.” At an AIDS benefit—which raises a paltry $17 dollars—a waitress informs Cartman that AIDS is  “more the ’80s,’90s disease. It’s all about cancer now.” Cartman replies, “Well, that’s just great. Of all the times to get AIDS, I get it right when everyone stops giving a crap.”

Even staunch AIDS advocate Elton John ditches Cartman’s fund-raiser to perform at a cancer benefit and is replaced by singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who writes and performs a song titled “AIDS Burger in Paradise.” Cartman blasts his friends when they forget to attend the unsuccessful benefit. “Yeah, you forgot,” Cartman yells. “Just like a lot of people lately have forgot that AIDS is still killing people. It seems like all of America has forgot that HIV is a serious disease!”


Kyle, Stan and Kenny forget to attend Cartman’s AIDS benefit
In typical South Park fashion, the episode pushes the boundary of taste: A vengeful Cartman purposely infects his friend/rival Kyle with a syringe. But it has some surprisingly poignant moments, too. In search of a cure, the boys travel to Los Angeles, to the home of HIV-positive basketball legend Magic Johnson—who, Cartman says, “got HIV, like, 50 years ago and he’s still totally fine.” By the end of the episode the boys think they have discovered the cure for AIDS: large amounts of money, to be injected directly into the bloodstream.

The episode’s bogus monetary solution can be taken as a call for increased funding for AIDS research and as a stab at the global and domestic economic disparities that allow the virus to thrive. HIV may be manageable, but only to those with the means to treat it. Near the end of the episode, when a white American in an SUV drives up to a Nigerian village with the message that “you just have to inject yourself with all your cash,” the villagers just stare, dumbfounded.

The characters even debate whether humor can truly be found in such a devastating illness. When Cartman (Parker) continues to crack jokes about HIV/AIDS—namely with the repeated line “We’re not just sure…we’re HIV positive”—Kyle (Stone) becomes irate.

“What part of being infected with a deadly disease do you find funny?” Kyle asks, adding “AIDS isn’t funny, dying isn’t funny, so shut the [bleep] up!”

But with the show still going strong in its 12th season and continuing to tackle hard-hitting issues, it’s unlikely that Cartman or the South Park team will “shut the [bleep] up” anytime soon.

Visit South Park Studios to view clips from this episode and to find out when you can catch encore presentations of “Tonsil Trouble” this weekend.