South Park has a habit of making billionaires look like absolute idiots. It’s what they do. But when "Franchise Prequel" aired back in 2017, the South Park Mark Zuckerberg episode felt different. It wasn't just a parody; it was a bizarre, fever-dream version of the Facebook founder that confused half the audience while making the other half howl.
Most people remember the "shtyle."
They remember the weird robot voice. But if you look closer, Trey Parker and Matt Stone were actually tackling something much darker about how we use the internet.
The Martial Arts Mystery: What’s With the Voice?
If you watched the episode and thought, "Why does he sound like a 1970s kung fu movie?" you weren't alone. Zuckerberg in this episode is a "rosy-cheeked" weirdo whose mouth doesn't match his words. He spends his time making "woosh" and "kapow" noises while dodging invisible attacks.
He keeps asking everyone, "What is your shtyle?"
This is actually a direct callback to the 1973 Bruce Lee classic Enter the Dragon. In that movie, there’s a character who challenges others by asking about their "fighting style." By giving Zuckerberg this trait, South Park highlights his total detachment from reality. He’s not living in the same world as the townspeople. He’s playing a game that only he understands.
The voice itself is a deliberate mess. Trey Parker provided the vocals, but they ran it through a filter and intentionally de-synced the audio. It makes him feel like a low-budget English dub.
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It’s jarring. It’s annoying. It’s exactly how the show creators feel about the real Mark Zuckerberg’s public persona.
The Plot: Why the Coon Needed a Netflix Deal
The whole reason Zuckerberg even shows up in South Park is because Cartman is obsessed with money. Typical. The kids are trying to launch their superhero franchise, "Coon and Friends." They have a whole "Phase 1" and "Phase 2" plan, just like Marvel.
But there’s a problem.
Butters (as Professor Chaos) has started a fake news farm. He’s using Facebook to spread lies about the boys—saying they poop on girls and burn flags. Netflix won't give them a deal because their "brand" is toxic.
The parents, being the usual South Park idiots, believe everything they read. They invite Zuckerberg to town to "fix" the problem. But once he arrives, he realizes he can’t be stopped.
Why You Can’t Block the "Shtyle"
One of the funniest and most frustrating parts of the South Park Mark Zuckerberg episode is how he invades people’s homes. He literally walks into their kitchens and eats their soup. When the townspeople get mad, he just says, "You cannot block me! I have been invited!"
It’s a heavy-handed metaphor for data privacy.
We "invited" Facebook into our lives. We clicked "Accept" on those Terms of Service. Now, he’s in our "house" (our data, our personal lives), and we can’t get him out. The police even tell the citizens there’s nothing they can do because, legally, he was invited.
Basically, the episode argues that we are the ones who gave him the power. We complain about the fake news and the privacy leaks, but we’re the ones who keep the app open.
The $17.23 Protection Money
There’s a scene where the kids confront Zuckerberg about Butters. They ask why he’s letting a literal supervillain spread lies on his platform.
His answer? Butters paid him $17.23.
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It sounds like a random number, but it’s a jab at how cheaply our attention is sold. Facebook’s business model doesn't care if the news is true or fake. It only cares that someone paid for the "boost." In Zuckerberg’s eyes—at least the South Park version—all money is green, even if it comes from a kid in a tinfoil hat.
The Facebook Live Trap
How do you stop a guy who thinks he’s in a martial arts movie? You use his own tech against him.
The episode ends with the kids tricking Zuckerberg into "fighting" them while they broadcast it on Facebook Live. They make it look like a wealthy billionaire is brutally beating up children (specifically minorities and kids with disabilities, because Cartman knows how to play the "pity" card).
Zuckerberg panics. The "optics" are bad.
To save himself, he deletes the video, which accidentally deletes Facebook. The town is saved, not because Zuckerberg grew a conscience, but because his ego was threatened.
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Real-World Impact and E-E-A-T
When this aired, Facebook was actually under fire for Russian interference in the 2016 election. The timing was perfect. Critics like Jesse Schedeen from IGN gave the episode an 8/10, noting that while the parody was "slapdash," it hit the nail on the head regarding our complicity.
We blame the algorithm. But we are the ones who feed it.
Honestly, the episode is a bit of a "prequel" in more ways than one. It was designed to lead directly into the video game South Park: The Fractured But Whole. If you play the game, you see the fallout of this superhero Civil War.
What to Do Next
If you want to understand the full context of the South Park Mark Zuckerberg episode, here is how you should approach it:
- Watch Season 21, Episode 4: Look for the subtle "Mortal Kombat" and "Enter the Dragon" references in Zuckerberg's movements.
- Revisit "You Have 0 Friends": This is Season 14, Episode 4. It’s a much earlier look at Facebook that focuses on the social pressure of "friends," whereas the Zuckerberg episode focuses on the "fake news" era.
- Check the Terms of Service: Not really, don't do that. It's 50 pages long. But maybe consider what apps you've "invited" into your house lately.
The show makes it clear: the "shtyle" is only unblockable if you keep looking at the screen.