The latest episode of anarchic adult cartoon South Park, shown last night in the US, has mocked viral Internet stars who have made their name by starring in videos on YouTube.
Why is that important? Well it’s not really that major until you realise that Viacom, the owner of South Park (the intellectual property rather than the place) is currently suing YouTube for $1 billion.
And as well as the clip being available on the official South Park Studios site, it’s also currently on YouTube, and hasn’t been removed yet despite being up all morning.
Viral Videos Go Mainstream
It’s also important as it just proves how far web television and viral videos on the Internet have come. They can make it on to a mainstream show such as South Park, and everyone instantly recognises the characters.
The clip itself isn’t all that funny, although it’s still worth a watch just to see how the writers have dealt with the Internet celebrities they chose to pick on.
Which include such luminaries as Chris Crocker, the man (woman thing?) who defended Britney Spears, Star Wars Kid, who used a pole as a lightsaber, and Dramatic Chipmunk, who I still fail to see the funny side of.
South Park Studio Embed
Here it is embedded in all its glory, from South Park Studios rather than YouTube in case Google decide to pull the clip within the next few hours.
Viacom Vs YouTube
The clip being on YouTube does of curse open that debate up again, and as always there are two sides to consider.
On the one hand, many think that Viacom are foolish to try and sue YouTube, especially for the huge amount of money being bandied about, and wished they’d have worked with the company instead.
But, as of the time of writing, the South Park clip embedded above has had over 2,000 views, and that’s sure to increase as the viral video about viral videos goes viral.
So why wouldn’t Viacom want to protect their property and maintain the right to share it how they see fit on their own monetized site?
