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“Kick A Ginger Day” Blamed for Beating
South Park is a comedy show often accused of being socially irresponsible. The show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, endeavor to make fun of everything and everybody and usually the results are harmless and funny. But one particular episode that first aired in 2005 turned out not to be so funny for some kids. That episode featured one of the show’s characters creating a new holiday called “Kick a Ginger Day.” “Ginger” refers to red-haired, pale-skinned, freckled people and the purpose of the fake holiday is to abuse them.
Unfortunately, that episode inspired real-life Facebook pages dedicated to beating up red-haired people. And that, say police, is the story behind a Calabasas, California boy’s recent beating. The 12-year-old middle school boy was physically assaulted in two separate incidents at A.E. Wright Middle School. Police say that as many as fourteen kids took part in the beating and, although the boy wasn’t seriously injured, they are investigating the incident as a possible assault with a deadly weapon.
This isn’t the first time a red-haired kid has been hurt in the name of “Kick a Ginger Day.” A similiar incident happened in British Columbia in 2008 and there are likely others we never heard about. As a parent of another student at A.E. Wright wonders, can’t Facebook can’t do something about these groups that inspire violence and hatred? Maybe not, but Facebook users can. A search of “Kick a Ginger” on Facebook returned over 300 results – the majority of them anti-Kick A Ginger pages.
Photo: fotologic/Flickr
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5 Comments
tom commented on Nov 26 09 at 11:48 pmOkay, I think you should get your facts straight before posting something like this. The episode called “Ginger kids” by southpark NEVER condoned harming red heads in any way. “Kick a ginger day” was never mentioned in south park. EVER. None of the characters mentioned kicking a ginger, or kick a ginger day. If you dont believe me watch the episode for yourself on http://www.southparkstudios.com Under full episodes, in season 9. Thank you
Jean commented on Nov 27 09 at 3:38 amIf I’m remembering the same South Park episode, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT AT ALL about “kick a ginger day.” The plot of the episode is that Cartman says that gingers have no souls. Then as a joke his friends bleach his skin, dye his hair red and give him freckles. He then becomes an outcast and starts a ginger revolution that leads to the attempted gentrification of all non-gingers. kick a ginger day may have been inspired by that episode, but it’s not the fault of the show, but rather the people who actually hurt others. They had a free will and they exercised it.
Charlotte Hughes commented on May 09 10 at 1:54 pmSouthpark is quite funny but some of the scenes maybe a bit too morbid even for adults.:”,
Esperanza Saucedo commented on Dec 13 10 at 6:28 pmgood job!
First Last Name commented on Dec 15 10 at 5:41 pmomg! who ever boy is that is ckute
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