If you were watching Comedy Central on December 29, 1999, you probably remember the confusion. The world was panicking about Y2K. Computers were supposed to explode, or something. South Park decided to celebrate by making Jesus Christ look like a failed Las Vegas promoter. But the thing people still talk about isn't the giant hippo-midget God. It’s the show’s bizarre, borderline mean-spirited depiction of South Park Rod Stewart.
Honestly, it’s one of the weirdest celebrity "takedowns" in the show's history. Usually, Matt Stone and Trey Parker lampoon someone because they’re annoying, or self-righteous, or relevant. In 1999, Rod Stewart was just... a guy who sang "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" yet they treated him like a 110-year-old man who had forgotten how to exist.
The Episode: Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus
The setup is classic early-era South Park. Everyone is flocking to Jesus’s house in Colorado because they want a sign for the new millennium. Jesus is feeling the pressure. He’s 2,000 years old, but he feels like he’s 28 again because of his sudden popularity. To give the fans what they want, he books a massive New Year’s Eve concert in Las Vegas.
His headliner? Rod Stewart.
When Jesus goes to meet him, we don't see the rock star who was actually 54 years old at the time. We see a shriveled, liver-spotted figure in a wheelchair. He can’t speak. He can only mumble. He’s attended to by a red-headed nurse who talks to him like he’s a toddler.
The "Pooped 'Em" Moment
The gag that everyone remembers is the fecal incontinence. It’s gross, it’s low-brow, and it’s peak South Park. During the meeting, the nurse asks him what happened, and the animated Rod Stewart simply mutters, "Pooped 'em."
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It gets worse.
At the actual concert, he’s on stage in his wheelchair, wearing a tuxedo, and he just... soils himself in front of the crowd. The nurse comes out with a bucket and starts cleaning him up right there on stage. The crowd is rightfully horrified. They wanted a divine miracle, and instead, they got a geriatric rock star with no control over his bowels. This leads to the crowd trying to crucify Jesus again because the show was a "bust."
Why Was Rod Stewart Portrayed Like That?
This is the question that keeps Reddit threads alive 25 years later. In 1999, Rod Stewart was only 54. To put that in perspective, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are both older than that right now in 2026. At 54, the real Rod Stewart was still touring, still had the spiky hair, and was still very much a functioning human being.
So why the wheelchair?
The common theory is that the creators just thought it was funny to portray someone who was still "hip" and "sexy" as a decaying corpse. It wasn't about a specific scandal. It was about the absurdity of a rock-and-roll icon aging. South Park often targets the perception of a celebrity rather than the reality. They did the same thing with Phil Collins and Barbra Streisand.
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But with Stewart, it felt almost random.
- Ageism as Satire: They weren't mocking his music as much as they were mocking the idea of his longevity.
- The Contrast: Putting him next to a "revived" 2,000-year-old Jesus made the "young" 54-year-old musician look even older.
- Shock Factor: In the late 90s, seeing a major celebrity depicted as incontinent was a huge "did they really just do that?" moment for TV.
The Legal Revenge: Episode 200 and 201
Rod Stewart didn't just disappear after that one episode. While he didn't launch a massive public PR war against the show, he was included in the "class action lawsuit" plotline in the landmark episodes "200" and "201."
In those episodes, dozens of celebrities—led by Tom Cruise—sue the town of South Park for their constant ridicule. Rod Stewart is right there in the background, still in his wheelchair, still looking like he's about to turn into dust. It was a nice bit of continuity. It showed that, in the South Park universe, Rod never recovered. He’s eternally 100 years old.
What the Real Rod Stewart Thought
Surprisingly, there isn't much on the record about Sir Rod’s personal feelings on the matter. Unlike Kanye West or Lorde, who have both commented on their South Park counterparts, Stewart has mostly stayed silent.
Maybe he didn't care. Or maybe he realized that getting angry at South Park is like yelling at a hurricane—it only makes it blow harder. Honestly, by 1999, he’d been in the business for decades. He’d seen it all. A cartoon making fun of his colon was probably just another Tuesday for him.
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How the Gag Ages in 2026
Watching "Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus" today is a surreal experience. We live in an era where 80-year-old rock stars are still headlining Glastonbury and Coachella. The idea that a 54-year-old is "ancient" feels like a joke from a different planet.
In some ways, the Rod Stewart parody is a time capsule. It represents the "no-rules" era of early cable animation where the goal was simply to be as offensive and weird as possible. It wasn't nuanced. It wasn't particularly "fair." It was just South Park being South Park.
If you’re looking to revisit this era of the show, keep a few things in mind for your next rewatch:
- Check the Timeline: Remember that this aired right before the new millennium. The tension of Y2K is the "secret sauce" of the episode's energy.
- Look for the Nurse: She actually appears in other episodes, like "Kenny Dies," working at an abortion clinic. The show loves recycling these minor, dark characters.
- Compare the God Design: The fact that God is a "midget hippopotamus thing" is often overshadowed by the Rod Stewart stuff, but it’s equally insane.
The legacy of South Park Rod Stewart isn't about the man himself. It's about the show's willingness to take a random icon and completely dismantle them for a five-minute gag. It’s mean, it’s gross, and for better or worse, it’s exactly why we’re still talking about it decades later.
If you want to dive deeper into the early seasons, your best bet is to look for the "Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics" episode which aired right before this one. It’s got that same chaotic, late-90s energy that made the show a cultural phenomenon in the first place. Go watch it and see if the jokes still land, or if they’ve aged as poorly as Rod Stewart’s cartoon bowels.
Next Steps for South Park Fans:
- Watch Season 3, Episode 16 to see the full concert scene.
- Compare this depiction to the "200" and "201" celebrity cameos to see how the character design evolved (or stayed exactly the same).
- Check out the "Christmas Time in Hell" song from the previous episode for more celebrity cameos from that same production window.