A new series of attacks were apparently started when this eugenics-promoting South Park episode led to a Facebook group which led to 12 or so kids at a school in California setting upon a 12-year-old then going on some kind of rampage.

The brutality was first revealed on Friday, and now authorities in Calabasas, California have admitted that several other gingerbeatings have occured at AE Wright Middle School, report the LA Times. The paper also, solemnly, describe what a ginger person is:

"Ginger" is a label given to people with red hair, freckles and fair skin.

Thanks! Now we can target them more effectively. Before bands of flame-haired people set out to take their revenge on South Park and its writers, it should be remembered that anti-ginger prejudice is nothing new. Especially across the Atlantic. In 2003 a man was stabbed after a fight following "comments about his ginger hair." In 2007 a family were forced to move repeatedly after an extended campaign of anti-ginger behavior. In the same year a waitress got almost $30,000 in compensation after taunts from co-workers about her strawberry blonde-ness.

They asked me if my head hair was the same colour as the rest of my body hair," she said. "They thought it was funny and liked to see me going red in the face with embarrassment.

Any gingers reading should consult this website.

Really, we were sort of hoping to avoid this whole topic altogether. Because there's already been a raft of soaring, philosophical odes and acidic, who cares?? rebuttals. And gosh, most of the coverage is just so exhausting and insanely thorough and into itself. Take EW.com, which has gone from a mandate of all Twilight, all the time to Boyle Me Up, Scotty! (Because she's Scottish). They've analyzed her slight makeover, about her pre-makeover homeliness, and about how she's made fun of.

And, you know, we don't blame anyone for being interested—we maybe, hypothetically, welled-up a bit when we first saw the clip of her opening that maw of hers and the way-sweeter-than-expected sounds of Les Miserables come pouring out. But we're also resistant to the idea, maybe even repulsed by it, of going in for the real deep dive on this one. Why? Mostly because we should be wise to this song and dance by now, shouldn't we?

Not that Boyle's lying about who she says she is—a spinster and a caretaker who recently lost her mother and has always dreamed of the West End—or that the studio audience's reactions were calibrated, you can't fake that surprise. But everyone else, man. Those two smirking hosts—we'll call them Sunkelman and Deacrest—who smugly said "Weren't expecting that, were you?" The judges, including master of the reality sleight-of-hand Simon Cowell, were probably briefed that something exciting was going to come boundering out from behind those curtains, but were kept just enough in the dark to register genuine, warm, cash-registery shock. But still, despite the obvious machination, or maybe in some perverse devil's bargain kind of way because of it, the hungry cameras descended, and soon after them their wraith-like remorae, the inter-blogs.

And everyone crowed about difference and spinsterdom and challenges and underdoggism and all that stuff that gives us tinny, buttery hope. That stuff that slicks across the surface and disappears just as quickly off the other end. All the while, you know, this woman is being mostly eaten alive, picked apart and poked at and looked over to see what can be extracted. There's gold in that there pill! You know. And not that Boyle herself is some unwitting rube—she's been on shows before, she played a good game of savvy country mouse in relaxed backstage interviews. But still we wonder if you don't quite know what you're getting into before you get into it, even if you dream about it, obsesses over it.

Could Boyle possibly have expected that South Park would make fun of her, and so soon? Or that she'd become the raison d'écrire for many a mainstream pop culture website (ahem) to bang out Way We Live thinkies (Choire Sicha's favorite kind of pieces)? If she did, then the world is more cynical and calculating than we'd previously imagined. Even a little middle-aged Scottish gnome lady wants to be a queen of the blogosphere. And if she didn't, then it's still pretty cynical and calculating, but it's also aggressive and dismayingly opportunistic, for taking a simple woman's hopes and blowing them up to unwieldy proportions.

Don't worry, this isn't some maudlin plea to leave the old biddy alone. Because she has happily signed that contract. What we find a bit uncomfortable, a pebble in our shoe, is how quickly and giddily and with wild abandon everyone threw themselves into this damn vortex. Shouldn't we be past this by now, shouldn't we be all too aware that nothing about these heavily orchestrated Events is ever quite as innocent as it seems? Susan got kissed! The producers knew! Susan got a leather coat! And a movie offer, and a bodyguard, and a duet with Elaine Page, and all manner of things, so don't worry, she's just fine. And that's good. Because she seems like a nice lady.

But when all of this comes crashing down or at least sadly disappears, as it inevitably will, we'd better not fall back on old habits and blame Britain's Got Talent, or the bad, shadowy, anonymous other internet that we, somehow!, have nothing to do with. No, we should be adult enough after this decade or so of the nü-fame game to willingly shoulder the blame for this one. All of us. For the overexposing, for the de-humbling, for the ruining, the backlashing, the annoying ruminating (pot, kettle, I know). Because we messily ran with it, because we let it get out of hand. Because we always do this! And we don't ever seem to learn. This will always happen.

You could say we've got a talent for it.

SOUTH PARK MURDERED ME LAST NIGHT AND IT'S PRETTY FUNNY. IT HURTS MY FEELINGS BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM SOUTH PARK! I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY EGO THOUGH. HAVING THE CRAZY EGO IS PLAYED OUT AT THIS POINT IN MY LIFE AND CAREER. I USE TO USE IT TO BUILD UP MY ESTEEM WHEN NOBODY BELIEVED IN ME. NOW THAT PEOPLE DO BELIEVE AND SUPPORT MY MUSIC AND PRODUCTS THE BEST RESPONSE IS THANK YOU INSTEAD OF "I TOLD YOU SO!!!" IT'S COOL TO TALK SHIT WHEN YOU'RE RAPPING BUT NOT IN REAL LIFE. WHEN YOU MEET LITTLE WAYNE IN PERSON HE'S THE NICEST GUY FOR EXAMPLE. I JUST WANNA BE A DOPER PERSON WHICH STARTS WITH ME NOT ALWAYS TELLING PEOPLE HOW DOPE I THINK I AM. I NEED TO JUST GET PAST MYSELF. DROP THE BRAVADO AND JUST MAKE DOPE PRODUCT. EVERYTHING IS NOT THAT SERIOUS. AS LONG AS PEOPLE THINK I ACT LIKE A BITCH THIS TYPE OF SHIT WILL HAPPEN TO ME. I GOT A LONG ROAD AHEAD OF ME TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE I'M NOT ACTUALLY A HUGE DOUCHE BUT I'M UP FOR THE CHALLENGE. I'M SURE THE WRITERS AT SOUTH PARK ARE REALLY NICE PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE. THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DRAW MY CREW. THAT WAS PRETTY FUNNY ALSO!! I'M SURE THERE'S GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN THIS... THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW IT'S ME!

This is, in all sincerity, the greatest thing that Kanye West has ever written. We stand with you on your path to not-bitch-acting, Kanye. If you want to be an intern one day, just let us know. [Kanye's Blog. Pic via]

"It's hilarious - very acerbic and biting. It offends everybody but does what 'South Park' does best, which is by the end it comes around and has something great to say," Cheyenne told Pop Wrap.

"I play the main missionary, Elder something," he said, straining to recall the name of his character. But the biggest unknown still is who else will be joining the cast. When I asked Cheyenne which other actors would be co-starring, all he would say (through the world's largest grin) is, "a lot of people - all amazing." ...The show starts rehearsals in December, so expect to see it on the Great White Way sometime in 2009!

Finally, a way for gays to get inside Mormons that doesn't involve three Sprite Zeros and some balled-up long underwear! At Defamer HQ, we're especially excited for the original soundtrack; we've heard that even Sondheim can't top the Joseph Smith love theme, "I Do, I Do, I Do (to You, and You, and You)."

• 'South Park' Creators Take on Salt Lake in New Mormon Musical! [Popwrap]

• 'About Last Night' [South Park Studios]

When the comedic challenge of a President Obama presidency was put before him, Trey Parker did as only he could do: voice the character in a slightly different lilt than every other resident of South Park he does on the show. In "About Last Night...", Obama and McCain have forged an unholy alliance to get one of them in the White House... purely as a pretext for the greatest heist ever pulled. Flanked by the Soderbergh crew and the British accent we all knew Sarah Palin had, they pulled off the most complex con in history, one that involved John McCain dressed in a football uniform and Barack's grandmother faking her own death.

The show stuck to portraying Obama as the cool, empathetic hero he is. In the South Park appraisal, Obama is more movie star than politician. With Obama in the slick George Clooney role and McCain his Brad Pitt counterpart, the humor comes out of having him scale underground tunnels and be referred to as 'B'. No matter what he does, he's worshiped. The show even lets the world coo over his announcement of the family dog's new name:

The biggest barbs were saved for the residents of South Park, who descended into total drunken bliss and complete depression depending on which ticket they supported. Despite being written before last night's wild celebrations, the aftermath was carbon copy of Obamania, and the end result was also painfully close to real life. The morning after, Obama supporter Randy Marsh wakes up hungover with no job, and no TV. In three words Robert Frost summed up everything he learned about life: it goes on.

The episode tonight will focus on the tempest surrounding our new president:

While the country celebrates the outcome of the election, the new President-elect catches everyone off guard when he arrives at the White House prematurely… and the citizens of South Park are partying in the streets. From the Oval Office, the new Commander-In-Chief assembles his team and prepares for the job ahead.

The writers were apparently ready to sub in McCain had the impossible occurred, so that may mean Obama is merely a pawn in "About Last Night..." The dull teaser hides whatever joke is coming:

Of course, this isn't the first time Trey Parker and company have brought their stoned brand of satire to the political scene, even when the target in question didn't lend itself easily to jokes. That's not the case for former Vice President Al Gore, whose passion for global warming has run up frequently against the show's ridicule of the same. The lisping, friendless version of a disgraced Gore's obsession with 'ManBearPig' made a successful comedic leap:

Trey has never been too keen on making fun of the Clintons, but in an episode titled "The Snuke" he focused on the one irrefutable fact about the former First Lady: she has a vagina. Here the laughs aren't necessarily at any particular aspect of Hillary: the episode is both an entertaining parody of 24 and a realistic depiction of what would happen if a terrorist device were in Hillary's vagina.

In order to hold onto their place in the center of the television political spectrum, Trey has generally focused on cultural issues themselves rather than parodying our leaders, but they couldn't resist poking fun at 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Trey had focused his satire of the Bushies the short-lived live action series That's My Bush!, but he was at his funniest on his flagship show when his Bush insisted on taking credit for 9/11, even faking a murder in the process.

Then there's that chief executive who dueled with Cartman in a blistering parody of...how we caricature our villains? I'm still not really sure what this was about:

On the Conservative right you have jingo-tastic torture and shoot first, then maybe ask questions 24. Alongside it are The Hills (Heidi Montag endorses McCain, he calls her "a very talented actress", John Adams twirls in his grave. Plus it's all about remorseless spending and there are no gays on the show and, actually, thousands of gays in LA, especially working in fashion for God's sake), The Sopranos (we think it's more about conservative people than it is conservative, but some people read it is rah rah family values, in perverted way. And yes we realize it's not on the air anymore, whatevs), and Two and a Half Men. OK, so we don't normally watch that show but lots of people do! We suspect they're the 60 million people we don't want to talk to, enemies of ideas and progress and rebellion against the status quo.

On the left you have Liberal nutjobs like 30 Rock (though Tina Fey's character once said she would probs end up voting for McCain, that was a while ago, and man oh man things have changed. That "Cooter" episode alone qualifies it as one of the most searingly liberal shows on the air), gay-friendly fare like Greek (best show on TV right now, no joke. Watch it.), the aforementioned GG (its actors are libs, its cast ethno and homo friendly, the really rich kids avoid talking about what would probably be conny politics), and Mad Men. This show is a toss up because, like The Sopranos it's about some conservative people, but not necessarily conservative in its messages. It's ultimately a study of the Beginning of the End of the American dream, which gives it some trenchantly liberal undertones. Plus that sad gay character. Hm. Just like Sopranos.

And then there's South Park in the middle, the cartoon show with its own brand of Libertarianism. I suppose it's fair for an iconoclast to claim no particular affiliation other than with one's own self-satisfaction.

What else would you add to the chart, and where? Maybe a conservative nod to "fuck habeas corpus" shows like Law & Order: SVU?

Nikki Finke heard that the folks at Paramount didn't know that Comedy Central, which is also owned by Viacom, would be harshly and extremely criticizing their precious little summer cashcow. Will heads roll? No, probably not. It's allllll just publicity and stuff. Though anything that Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the boys behind South Park) can do to stop the supposedly in-the-works Indy 5 from happening, I'd appreciate it thanks.

The guy was an innovator, a soul-butterer, a sex-machine to all the chicks, a chocolate-salty-balls-haver. And the guy never changed: Here he is performing in Chicago in 1973 (rocking a cape, gold link harness, and orange leggings), and looking as if he hadn't aged a day at the Hollywood Bowl 34 years later. The only piece of the puzzle that never seemed to fit was his devotion to Scientology, which would lead to his acrimonious departure from South Park after nine seasons voicing the beloved Chef, and at least one regrettable LP release ("The Joy of Creating - The Golden Era Musicians and Friends play L. Ron Hubbard," featuring the musical talents of fellow adherents Chick Corea and Doug E. Fresh (!)). The rule of threes suggests the grim reaper isn't yet done with his dirty work. Sam Jackson just wrapped on Soul Men, co-starring Mac and Hayes. Just keep a third eye on any hungry smart-sharks sneaking up behind you, Sam, is all we're saying.

[With thanks to Dr Ned, M.D. for the photo.]

• Isaac Hayes, 65; innovative singer, composer changed pop music with hits like 'Shaft' [LAT]
• Dr Ned, M.D. [Tumblr]

Defamer: I see you have a series called Four in Focus dedicated to first-time filmmakers. Is there one to watch? Do you find that younger filmmakers focus on different subject matter than their predecessors?

Kirsten Schaffer: Half Life, by Jennifer Phang, is exceptional (see video clip above). The thing that they have in common—which is interesting and sort of new is that the gay subject matter is definitely a part of a story, but it’s not the central focus of any of these stories.

Do you think that’s something different with the younger generation?

I do. Because this generation has grown up seeing more images of queer people on film and in television, they are free to tell stories they want to tell, and integrate the queerness in different ways. Like, in the 90s and even in the first part of 2000s, we weren’t seeing enough coming out stories, so people were making a lot more coming out stories. They are still being made and they are often good, but at the same time the filmmakers are reaching a little bit deeper into their lives and telling stories that are complicated and involve queer stories in a different way.

How has the quality and number of submissions changed over the years?

The submissions have definitely gone up. When I first started programming in Seattle with a fax machine-before the Internet, I feel like there were maybe 200 submissions. So now it’s tripled, and I think the biggest change is the diversity of things to choose from. It used to be if there was a gay romantic comedy, you had to show it. Now, there are 20 gay romantic comedies, and you can choose from the best. That said, the other thing that’s changed, more so, in the last couple of years, is that there’s fewer and fewer films being made on film and more being made on video and DVD. And the plus side of that is that people who didn’t have access to film are making great movies. The downside of that is, sometimes it feels like the movies are getting made really fast. Sometimes the quality isn’t always the same. The stories are good, they are interesting, but there’s something that’s missing from not being made on film.

Local filmmaker JD Disalvatore has a funny line on her website: "Please, help me, help you not see bad gay movies!!!" Do you think this is a frequent pitfall in some gay films?

I think it’s happening in independent cinema across the board. I don’t think it’s just gay films, I think it’s everything. It really is, it’s great and it’s terrible at the same time. There are some good movies being made, but just because somebody grabs a camera and makes a real good movie, but then, there’s a lot more to wade through because someone is grabbing a camera and making a movie. There’s a intentionality and a skill that’s missing than when you are making a film on film, and you have to spend two, three, five, 10 years raising the money and reworking the script. There’s a difference between making a movie in a month and making a movie in five years.

Which movies do you consider some of the most monumental flicks in gay filmmaking that Outfest has shown?

Hedwig and the Angry Inch—that was the opening night in 2001; Boys Don’t Cry; High Art; Making Love in 1983; Desert Heart in 1985; Paris is Burning; Poison, Todd Haynes’ film from 1991; Go Fish in 1994; Celluloid Closet in 95.

Which flicks in this year’s fest are worthy of the Canon—as they say?

There’s a film called Wild Combination about musician Arthur Russell which I think is exceptional. I think a Jihad for Love because it’s the first of its kind is a really important movie. I really like this film The World Unseen, a lesbian film set in South Africa in 50s. It’s really lovely and beautiful.

Half Life—that is set suburban northern California, it’s about a family and a single mom and her two teenage children; trying to figure life out in the suburbs. It’s not as dark as Todd Solondz’s movie, Welcome to the Dollhouse. It’s a little bit dark, sometimes funny and mostly dramatic suburban tale, which is my favorite kind of movie. A little like American Beauty, Safety of Objects. What this has that’s different is the 12, or 13 year-old boy lives in a fantasy world, and when he goes into that fantasy world, she uses animation. The teenage girl—the 19 year-old-—her best friend is gay and there’s a whole subplot that focuses on their relationship and his relationship to his Christian parents.

Hamlet 2. Andrew Fleming’s new movie, he did Threesome. This is a really fun film with Amy Poehler, Catherine Keener, Elizabeth Shue. It’s about a high school drama teacher who is quite unsuccessful and decides that instead of doing the kind of plays he’s been doing, he’s going to write his own. So he writes Hamlet 2. There’s one of the students is gay and he writes Hamlet 2 as a musical, so it’s pretty campy.

We’re also showing a film called 11 Minutes which is about Jay McCarroll, the first winner of Project Runway. I think that’s going to be a fun screening because he’s going to be there. That’s on July 16th.

What sort of movies are you ultimately looking for?

We’re looking for films that are of interest to the lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, community. It’s kind of broad. Sometimes that’s a film that’s a gay film from start to finish, or sometimes that’s a film that’s really campy, because it’s of interest to the gay community. Like this year, we’re doing South Park as a sing-a-long, because we think that’s campy and fun and the gays want to see that. Sometimes we’ll show some feminist movie that’s not that lesbian but it’s really about women and feminist culture and that’s of interest to lesbian audience. This year we’re showing a film that’s mostly about environmental issues, it’s a mockumentary, but it has a gay-appearing character as the lead, but it’s not about their gay identity at all. It’s totally about environmental issues. But they seem gay to me and I liked it, so we’re showing it. The movie is called Sizzle. It has an awesome photo of a guy and a polar bear in a slightly compromising position.

For more info: check the schedule here.

Also: FREE TIX. First two people to respond to each email get entree to the Eleven Minutes screening Wed. 7/16 at 8 p.m., and The South Park Sing-a-long on Thur. 7/17 at 8 p.m. Both are at the Ford. Send emails to southpark AT outfest DOT org and 11min AT outfest DOT org and it might just be your lucky day.

The vast majority of YouTube partners haven't talked about what they're pulling in. Neither has the company. And there's really no incentive to; revealing the pay would only make users more agitated when they're not at the top of the list. So we're not sure how much Tay Zonday or Chris Crocker are making. But I can tell you this about the Internet stars that South Park killed off:

1. Tay Zonday, "Chocolate Rain": Unknown, but possibly a good amount. Probably made more from his Dr. Pepper commercial.
2. Tron Guy: Probably nothing; he was only part of other people's videos
3. Gary Brolsma, "Numa Numa": Maybe a little from his uncomfortably bad sequel that racked up nine million views, though this was before the partner program officially launched. But the original Numa Numa, which got eleven million views, was just someone else's copy; remember that Gary was the last huge video hit before YouTube, back when everyone had to download Windows Media and Quicktime files.
4. Star Wars Kid: Nothing. Settled a lawsuit against the kids who put his video online (again pre-YouTube though copies are up at the site), and some bloggers raised money for him out of sympathy.
5. Sneezing Panda: Nothing.
6. Dramatic Prairie Dog: Nothing. Apparently taken from CollegeHumor.com, where someone took a clip from a Japanese show and added the dramatic sound. One site claims it was an animated GIF long before it became a video.
7. Chris Crocker, "Leave Britney Alone": Probably nothing; he doesn't have ads on his channel so he must not be a partner. And I haven't heard anything new about the reality show he was supposed to star in.
8. Chinese Back Street Boys: Almost certainly nothing; the clips seem to have been uploaded by someone else, and no ads appear near them.
9. Laughing Baby: Nothing. No ads. A shame too, cause this video got over 45 million views.
10. Afroninja: Nothing. The clip wasn't his.

The viral videos, by order of appearance:

"Chocolate Rain" Original Song by Tay Zonday

Samwell - "What What (In the Butt)"

Tron Guy

Numa Numa

Star Wars Kid

Sneezing Panda

Dramatic Gopher

Chris Crocker - LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!

Hahaha (laughing baby)

Afro Ninja