Story

Description

PC Principal and Wendy Testaburger host an assembly to introduce students to the Asian art of yaoi, which has increased due to the influx of Asian students. The pictures shown are all manga-style drawings of Tweek and Craig engaged in homoerotic and homosexual activity, and the gang is confused at this. Tweek and Craig are brought in to Principal's office where they both assert that they are not gay, but Principal tells them that if there is a relationship between them, they must have affirmative consent. Stan talks with his father Randy about his confusion over who "the Asians" arbitrarily decide to portray as gay in yaoi. Randy, who knows nothing about the topic but is desperate to appear politically correct, comes to the conclusion that Asians are allowed to decide who is actually gay or not. Meanwhile, Randy is thrilled at the appearance/coming out of the closet of the "gay couple", citing the Whole Foods Market in town as part of the reason.

At Whole Foods, Craig's father Thomas is congratulated for Craig being gay, but he is unwilling to accept this. At Tweek's home, Tweek's parents celebrate and accept his gay status by rewarding him with money. As Cartman ponders the relationship of Tweek and Craig, he starts fantasizing again about his Cupid-like alter ego Cupid Me (last seen in "Cartman Finds Love"). Cupid Me visits Craig in his sleep and shoots him with a love arrow to help with their relationship. Cupid Me then begins to express his homosexual feelings for Cartman, who rejects him. The next day at school, the growing tension between Tweek and Craig leads to them fighting, but it is dismissed as a lovers' quarrel, and they are given money and dismissed without punishment.

When Randy calls Chinese President Xi Jinping to ask for clarifications about yaoi, the Chinese President angrily replies that the Japanese, not Chinese, do this and begins ranting about the rape of Nanking. As Thomas turns to alcohol, Randy tells him that he has no control of whether or not Craig is gay: it is the Japanese who make those decisions and they even got away with "raping Don King". Craig convinces Tweek to announce that they are gay and then stage a fake breakup in order to put the matter to rest. Initially reluctant, Tweek gets carried away with the performance, portraying himself as the wronged party and Craig becomes massively unpopular, with yaoi artists getting even more inspired by Tweek's heartbreak.

Cartman meets Cupid Me at a gay bar to ask him for help, and Cupid Me agrees but insists on having a date with Cartman as payment. Tweek apologizes to Craig for making him appear to be manipulative but Craig rejects his idea to pretend to get back together. Thomas becomes willing to accept his son thanks to a love arrow shot by Cupid Me, and encourages Craig to be gay and gives him money. Tweek and Craig reunite and begin holding hands together in public and playing games together, bringing joy back to the town. Meanwhile, Cartman has his date with Cupid Me which involves a massage in his bed, but as Cupid Me attempts to molest Cartman, Cartman is seen by his mother actually in the bathroom masturbating.

What I Learned Today

• "I guess, just because I don't understand it doesn't mean I shouldn't support it."
• "You can't fight being gay. I used to think that being gay was a choice, but, you don't get to decide. Japan picks who they pick, and that's that. I don't understand this stuff. Heck, I didn't even know Don King got raped, but... I do know that if you try and resist it, you make yourself miserable your whole life. Everyone was so proud of you, Ah I was just being selfish. I wanna be proud of you too."

Memorable Quotes

• "Do you think I'm cute, too? Because I think you're kinda cute." (Cupid Cartman)
• "Why can't you quit him?" (Thomas Tucker)
• "Dude, I'm not gay and neither are you! (Craig Tucker)
• "Who the hell is Michael? Do you wanna tell me that?!" (Tweek Tweak)
• "You've got spikes man, you've got spikes." (Tweek Tweak)
• "I'm your Tweek, and you're my Craig."
• "Aww." (Liane Cartman)
• "Alright everyone listen up. Today we're going to be showing you some art from our Asian American students and DAMMIT LESLIE SHUT YOUR FUCKING PIE HOLE!" PC Principal

Songs

• "The Book of Love" by Peter Gabriel
• "Say Something" by A Great Big World ft. Christina Aguilera

Characters

Character Debuts

Asian Girls

None of the Asian Girls are identified by name, but Wendy mentions the names Lisa Akimoto, Kelly Joo (or Zhou), and Heather Nishimura, two of which are Japanese in origin. Three of the girls speak, one of which is Japanese, and two of which are Korean.

Chinese

Randy briefly calls up Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China, to talk about Yaoi, and Jinping tells him that's from Japan. He and his secretary seem to be in love.

Cameos

These characters only have one or two lines, or none at all, but do appear in the episode, if briefly.

Body Count

Mayor McDaniels' former lover/boyfriend/husband is first referenced here, although he's been dead for quite some time as far as we can tell.

Locations

Behind The Scenes

Where Did The Idea Come From

Tweek x Craig, also known as Creek, is a popular "ship" (a romantic pairing of characters) in the South Park Yaoi/Slash community. Fans within this community often create fanfiction or fan art depicting their 'ship' in romantic contexts, usually as teenagers or young adults. These depictions are controversial among South Park fans.

The day before the episode was announced, South Park Studios asked fans to submit their Yaoi fan art for inclusion in the show, setting off speculation over the then-unannounced upcoming episode.

In the episode description released the Monday before air it was mentioned Mr. Mackey was supposed to hunt down whoever started the rumor. This scene/plot was not included in the final episode, and Mackey only appears brifly behind PC Principal in a cameo role, however. An animatic of one of these scenes was released on Instagram by Trey's wife, Boogie.

Pop Culture References

Fan Artists

Matt and Trey solicited real Yaoi art from South Park fans the week before the episode aired, which was in turn processed by the administrators of South Park Studios here (over 1,500 pieces of art!) and finally contained in the episode itself, along with a 'thank you' to all of the fans who contributed.

Here's some of the awesome artwork chosen for the final product:

• "Creek Kiss" by xChibiDragonx is the very first image shown during Wendy's presentation, and reappears at the Art Fair.
• This piece by Dogpu appears at the Art Fair (6:12)
• "Craig x Tweek" by blindingmyheart appears at the Art Fair (6:12)
• junkoandthediamonds' piece can be seen for sale at the Art Fair (6:17) (Artist Response)
• This piece by BeansOfYuki is one of the pieces Mayor McDaniels views in her office. (6:24)
• Earily is the only artist so far confirmed to have multiple pieces in the show, with THREE pieces of art!
  • This piece appears at the Art Fair first (6:12)
  • This piece is at the Art Fair (6:17)
  • this piece appears in Mayor McDaniels' office (6:22)

More to come!

All timestamps begin after disclaimer and opening credits.

Staff Artists

The South Park storyboard team also created a lot of the art used in the episode, particularly the second half after Tweek and Craig's messy public break-up. They also filmed the cosplay video for the show!

Pop Culture References

• Two songs feature over montages during this episode -- Peter Gabriel's "The Book of Love" (2010) and A Great Big World's "Say Something" (2013).
• Thomas Tucker's line to Tweek, "Why can't you quit him?", is a reference to the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, which followed two 'straight' male cowboys who fall in love.
• Junkoandthediamonds' art piece is a reference to the 1988 film Heathers.

Bonus Factoids

• The Rape of Don King is a reference to the historical "Rape of Nanking" in 1937, when Japanese troops marched on the residents of Chinese Nanjing, then Nanking, and murdered and raped many innocent civilians.
  • This incident was previously referenced in "City Sushi".

Pointless Observations

• Just a few episodes earlier, Mayor McDaniels suggested that the town's "beloved Craig" was a homosexual.
  • Way back in "South Park Is Gay", Craig identified as a 'catamite' while pretending to be metrosexual - and though he had no lines, Tweek was part of his circle of friends.
• While previous episodes hinted that Mayor McDaniels was a lesbian, such as her reading a 'Gazongas' magazine in "Spontaneous Combustion", this episode reveals she has a deceased husband.
• Wendy has become South Park Elementary's student body president again after resigning at the end of Dances With Smurfs.
• While it's common to see Damien Thorn in assembly scenes these days, one can briefly catch a glimpse at Nathan present as well.
• The Tweak family's address is revealed as "20288", but they don't seem to be on Avenues des los Mexicanos where the main boys live.
• Butters and Charlotte are still together and can be seen Skyping during the song segments.
• Bradley Biggle makes a cameo in the background when Stan and Kyle talk about Randy's knowledge of Yaoi.
• This is actually the first time we ever see Skeeter managing his bar, Skeeter's Wine Bar, and the first time we've seen the interior since it was given a more progressive look in "You're Not Yelping" -- it's also the first time Skeeter's spoken in six years!

Season 19

ep1 Stunning and Brave

ep2 Where My Country Gone?

ep3 The City Part of Town

ep4 You're Not Yelping

ep5 Safe Space

ep6 Tweek x Craig

ep7 Naughty Ninjas

ep8 Sponsored Content

ep9 Truth and Advertising

ep10 PC Principal Final Justice

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