'South Park' rapped by gay rights group

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has blasted South Park for the use of the word 'fag' in a recent episode.

The episode sees the characters use the word to refer to "annoying and inconsiderate" riders of Harley Davidson motorcycles. Homosexuals in the area take offence at first, but then join in with the 're-branding' of the word.

GLAAD wrote: "Though this seems to represent a well-intentioned effort by the creators of South Park to delegitimise a vulgar anti-gay slur, the fact is that the word is and remains a hateful slur that is often part of the harassment, bullying and violence that gay people, and gay youth in particular, experience on a daily basis in this country.

"It is an epithet that has real consequences for real people’s lives. Just this year, an 11-year-old Massachusetts student named Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, unable to endure the unrelenting anti-gay bullying and name-calling he experienced at school, committed suicide."

The complaint continued: "The creators of South Park are right on one important point: more and more people are using the F-word as an all-purpose insult.

"However, it is irresponsible and wrong to suggest that it is a benign insult or that promoting its use has no consequences for those who are the targets of anti-gay bullying and violence.

"This is a slur whose meaning remains rooted in homophobia. And while many South Park viewers will understand the sophisticated satire and critique in last night’s episode, others won’t - and if even a small number of those take from this a message that using the 'F-word' is OK, it worsens the hostile climate that many in our community continue to face."