Did 'The Simpsons' Really Steal A Joke From 'South Park'?
The friendly rivalry between two major animated series continues with an unexpected twist – looks like ‘The Simpsons’ just borrowed one of the ‘South Park’ biggest jokes right out of its 25th season.
The Joke in question being a gag about people involved in real estate business. Both shows depict potential home buyers as zombie-like creatures, muttering trendy buzzwords like “cortado” or “open concept”. With two shows making fun of gentrification within just one month (‘South Park ’ episode 3 season 25 aired on 16 February and ‘The Simpsons ’ episode ‘Pretty Whittle Liar’ – on March 27), whilst using the same joke concept, it’s easy to suspect Matt Groening and company of plagiarism.
Yet, it’s way too early to deem the case closed. ‘The Simpsons’ are famously careful with their quality, extending production time for each of the episodes, while the ‘South Park’ is astoundingly quick with their releases. Most likely, both creative teams developed screenplays independently, observing the current US gentrification boom. There’s maybe a chance that Simpson’s team were the first ones to create a joke, delaying it until March for production reasons.
Both ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘South Park’ creators are yet to comment on this matter.