National Anthem Reboot

Recently, 49er’s backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick has “taken a knee” during the performance of the nation anthem at many of his football games. Due to massive increase in racial violence and police killings throughout the United States, the 49er’s quarterback has chosen to sit out of during the national anthem to protest these recent events. With this recent controversy about Kaepernick, the Comedy Central hit “South Park” aims to make satire out of this recent quarrel. The show, created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is known for is known for quickly producing satire from many incidents that have occurred in a recent period of time.

In their recent season 20 premiere revolving around this incident, the citizens of the town “South Park” realize that many people are sitting out of the national anthem due to Kaepernick's protest. The show has the U.S. government hire the recent Star Wars producer, J.J Abrams, to fix the national anthem given his knowledge of rebooting many older franchises. The show then plays a poorly made national anthem that surprises everyone in the crowd due to it being the same song, but saying “Please rise, sit, or take a knee” before singing. The camera then shows everyone in the crowd confused on how to protest the national anthem.

This sequence of “South Park” brings some lighthearted comedy to the protest that Kaepernick started back in August. With an unbiased opinion towards the ideas the 49ers quarterback is trying to push, the show aims to make comedy out of the way the protest is done. This parody even has fans saying “South Park fixes the national anthem problem,” (CJ Folger) on Twitter and other social media websites. This episode aired on September 14th and the show is still airing new episodes every Wednesday following this episode.