Cartman Sucks

Plot

Cartman photographs Butters in demeaning positions during sleepovers and shares them with Stan, Kenny, and Kyle. His magnum opus shows Cartman smiling and giving a thumbs-up with Butters's penis in his mouth, which Cartman claims makes Butters gay. Kyle counters that the person performing oral sex is perceived as homosexual, making Cartman gay. Kyle tricks Cartman into taking a similar photo with reversed positions, claiming it will cancel out the gay polarity.

Cartman then tries to trick Butters into being blindfolded and opening his mouth, assuring him he won't put anything yicky in his mouth. Butters's father Stephen walks in as Cartman is about to insert his penis into Butters's mouth. Stephen declares Butters bi-curious, meaning confused, and Butters agrees he is confused about the events. Stephen sends Butters to Camp New Grace, a Christian conversion therapy camp where organizers repeatedly tell the boys they are confused.

Reception

IGN gave the episode a score of 9.0, noting that episodes built around Cartman's misdeeds tend to be good, comparing it favorably to Scott Tenorman Must Die. The review observed that Cartman's naivety gets him in trouble when he believes Kyle's reasoning about canceling out the gay polarity. The episode was released on the two-disc DVD collection A Little Box of Butters.

Australian rating controversy

In 2011, the Australian Communications and Media Authority complained against Austar for rating the episode M instead of MA15+, as it featured strong sexual material and self-harm. ACMA found the episode contained strong visual and verbal sexual references, including stylized depictions of oral sex, and visual depictions of suicide, all too strong for an M rating. Austar acknowledged it had classified the episode incorrectly, as the Classification Board had previously rated it MA15+ for the Season 11 DVD.

Did You Know?

• The scene where Cartman tells the boys he put Butters's penis in his mouth was originally written for the sixth season episode 'Asspen' but was cut and later repurposed for this episode.
• Butters's roommate at Camp New Grace is named Bradley, and the two are punished when camp authorities find Bradley's 1979 male underwear catalog.
• Cartman's final show-and-tell photo is presented as a protest against the War In Iraq, with him claiming 'it's wrong that we still have our troops there!'