MEDIA MIX ARTICLE JANUARY 20, 1998:
By Mari Wadsworth
HOLY SHIT: In the cutthroat world of television cartoons, nothing is sacred. As if Comedy Central's animated South Park sit-com hasn't garnered enough notoriety in recent months with run-of-the-mill profanity, the regular death and dismemberment of at least one of its grade-school characters, and the charming game of "kick the baby," now it's aroused one viewer's anger for the most grievous transgression yet: poo theft.
John Kricfalusi, creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show now owned by Nickelodeon, claims South Park holiday show violated his intellectual property rights, such as they are. In an interview with Variety reporter Ray Richmond, Kricfalusi elaborated on his theory that "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo," South Park's singing, dancing special guest, was directly inspired by his own creation "Nutty the Friendly Dump," who starred in his own cartoon short on the John K. webpage, last October.
"I didn't invent dumps or farts, but in the context that I use them, I did invent them. The talking, singing dump was invented by me. And now these guys are gonna get rich off it," Kricfalusi lamented. A Comedy Central spokesman called the charge "ludicrous."
Kricfalusi's case may be a crap shoot, but he has a right to raise a stink: The contentious South Park Christmas episode earned a 5.4 rating, making it the highest-rated program in the network's history, with an estimated audience of 4.5 million people.