The Guinness World Record South Park Has Held Since 2001
There's never been a show quite like "South Park." While adult animation saw a renaissance in the 2010s, with shows like "Bojack Horseman" and "Archer" pushing the boundaries of what can be accomplished within the medium, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's exceptionally long-running comedy still feels singular. Set in the fictional Colorado town of South Park, the series follows a quartet of ill-behaved, expletive shouting children as they try to make sense of the adults around them. Throughout its surprisingly confusing timeline, the one constant is the foul language shared by the show's young characters.
While the show's tone, language, and gross-out sense of humor made it the bane of parents and television censors alike, these factors also have made it one of the most unique and consequently successful shows ever made. When it was revealed that "South Park" was to make its cinematic debut with 1999's "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut," many wondered if it's controversial (and sometimes, poorly aging) sense of humor would be allowed. Ultimately, Parker and Stone didn't just bring their vulgarities to the big screen — they did so in truly historic fashion.
How offensive was the film?
If a movie could ever be described as deliberately offensive, none would fit the description more than "Bigger, Longer & Uncut." In its remarkably brief runtime, the movie questions and pushes the boundaries of censorship, both on and off the screen. The film's plot actually surrounds a fictional movie that is itself deemed horribly offensive and unfit for polite consumption – directly mirroring the sort of backlash Parker and Stone were likely expecting to receive.
Sure enough, the film was subject to the same moral panic as experienced by the characters within, with one critic at the Chicago Tribune going so far as to damn the entire season of films as "the Summer of Raunch." The film, ultimately rated R, was at one point struggling to avoid a rare NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), due to the sheer amount of swears present in the final cut. According to Entertainment Weekly, the MPAA denied the film five times before producer Scott Rudin stepped in to apply pressure, which the filmmakers noted in an interview with Playboy convinced the MPAA to grant the film an R rating.
Exactly how many expletives did the "South Park" movie contain? Enough to win a Guinness World Record.
What record did South Park win?
As exhibited by the 2022 film "Fall," in its own struggle to receive a PG-13 rating, more than one use of the F-word is enough to land a film an unavoidable R rating. "Bigger, Longer & Uncut" uses the F-word 144 times (via UberFacts on Twitter). In the 2001 edition of the "Guinness Book of World Records," "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" was awarded "Most Swearing in an Animated Movie." According to their data, the film contains 399 swears (including the 144 F-words) (via Entertainment Weekly). This is a staggering, perhaps even impressive feat given the film is just 81 minutes long — that's nearly 5 swears every minute.
The book also noted that "Bigger, Longer & Uncut" contained 128 offensive gestures (i.e. the middle finger) and a shocking 221 acts of violence. Despite its prolific use of profanity, the "South Park" movie was a massive success, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song ("Blame Canada"), while reigning as the highest grossing R-rated animated film for over fifteen years, according to Box Office Mojo. It was eventually unseated in 2016 by the Seth Rogen comedy "Sausage Party" (via Complex). While adult animation continues to enjoy and stretch the boundaries widened by Parker and Stone, they seldom do so with the same historically offensive flare.