Israel, recognized worldwide as the leading nation in terms of the number of vaccinations by capita, is even mentioned during the latest episode of the cartoon, bringing the long-waited coronavirus vaccines to South Park's population.At the begining of the episode, a man waiting in line to get vaccinated shouted at the security guard that Israel is vaccinating every one of its citizens, no matter what their age. The guard replied that he should then travel there, adding that he obviously can't. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to the episode on Twitter, adding in a video showing an Israeli plane titled "Air Israel" in the theme and font of ElAl landing in South Park's city with an Israeli man coming out of it and distributing boxes of vaccines to all the citizens of the city.Netanyahu's tweet reads, "Even in South Park they already know - in Israel they are coming back to life!"
גם בסאות'פארק כבר יודעים - בישראל חוזרים לחיים! pic.twitter.com/lgxhcoovN6
— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) March 11, 2021
Israel's ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, also reacted to the show on Twitter, calling on NBC to learn how to make jokes about Israel that would not turn antisemitic, in response to Michael Che's now-infamous joke on Saturday Night Live about Israel's vaccination priorities.
"Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their population,” Che said on the "Weekend Update" segment. “I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half."Hey @nbcsnl: this is how you do pandemic humor when it comes to Israel. Watch and learn from @SouthPark pic.twitter.com/miMAS0dwry
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) March 11, 2021
The South Park episode tackled an array of headlines from the past several months that show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone just had to address before the series' usual fall run, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
This latest episode, simulcast on MTV2, marked the second hour-long special that the long-running Comedy Central show has produced.