'South Park' joke accidentally turns Coloradan's life into a hell of prank calls
South Park jokes often very pointedly come at someone's expense. But a throwaway joke from the Season 23 episode that aired on Dec. 3 had an unintended victim for a change.
A real person from Fairway, Colo. got bombarded with hundreds of calls from fans misdialing a number advertised as co-creator Trey Parker's during the episode titled "Basic Cable." The number appeared in an in-universe commercial urging streaming services to call and buy the rights to a variety of fake spin-off shows like "PC Babies" and "The Scott Malkinson Show."
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While the actual number that appeared (719-838-4002) leads to an Easter egg when entered correctly IRL, it's one wrong button press away from some poor Coloradan's real-life work number, according to a Facebook post screenshotted by someone claiming to be his family friend.
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To make matters worse, the episode aired on the ill-fated number owner's birthday, making the ordeal sound even more like a South Park joke in itself.
"Over the past two days, I have gotten 200+ phone calls and people leaving me random messages," the post reads. "We just figured out the connection today when one of the guys that called actually engaged in conversation instead of giggling like a teenage girl and hanging up."
If it's any consolation (and it isn't), the episode featured many jokes about Baby Yoda, which the prank call victim appears to have a strong affinity for. However they also didn't even watch the episode, so any potential joy from that is moot.
After a fan tweeted the Facebook post at South Park, the show's account retweeted it with the closest they'll ever come to an apology. The account reiterated the "correct" phone number to contact Trey, alongside a quote from the episode about posers.
I guess it's all fun and games until someone's answering machine gets annihilated by teens who can't read numbers good.
[h/t The Hollywood Reporter]
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Jess is an LA-based culture critic who covers intimacy in the digital age, from sex and relationship to weed and all media (tv, games, film, the web). Previously associate editor at Kill Screen, you can also find her words on Vice, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vox, and others. She is a Brazilian-Swiss American immigrant with a love for all things weird and magical.
