On October 4, 2006, South Park premiered “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” the eighth episode of the show’s tenth season. The plot revolves around Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny’s obsession with the popular online role-playing video game World of Warcraft. When a rogue player starts killing the boys without their consent, they dedicate their lives to taking him down. With the help of Stan’s father, Randy, they’re finally able to defeat the agitator using a powerful weapon that the game’s creators had previously removed.
“Make Love, Not Warcraft” was very well-received, with IGN calling it “one of the funniest” episodes ever produced. The following year, the broadcast won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (One Hour or Less). And in 2011, fans voted it as the number one South Park episode during the show’s “Year of the Fan” celebration. Even series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone listed “Make Love, Not Warcraft” among their best episodes years later.
Trey Parker Once Begged ‘South Park’ Producers Not to Air One of the Show’s Most Famous Episodes
But Parker didn’t always feel that way about the show. In fact, while he was being interviewed for the Australian news program The Feed in 2016, Parker revealed that he actually begged South Park executive producer Anne Garefino not to air “Make Love, Not Warcraft.” From his perspective—at the time, anyway—the episode was so bad that they were risking ruining South Park’s legacy by releasing it. As Parker tells it, he went home that night depressed and wasn’t able to sleep. “I literally wanted to kill myself over that episode,” he recalled. “It’s crazy.”
Though many would argue that Parker was way off base with his assessment of the show, he explains in that same interview that he starts off thinking every episode is horrible. Evidently, this was the only one he asked them not to run, however. Thankfully, Garefino and Stone were able to talk him off the ledge back then, and we didn’t miss out on one of the most beloved South Park episodes of all time. You can listen to Parker tell the story himself in the clip below.
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