South Park: When is the vaccination special where Cartman weaponises social distancing

Butters is seen joining Lil Q’Ties, an apparent riff on QAnon

South Park’s vaccination special will air next week (YouTube/ South ParQ Studios)

A new trailer has been unveiled for an upcoming South Park vaccination special.

Cartman can be seen at the beginning of the 30-second clip, released on Wednesday by Comedy Central, getting into an argument with Butters’s father, Stephen Stotch, who is inside this house.

When Cartman taunts Stotch, telling him to “come out and do something about” their disagreement, Stotch replies: “Why don’t you come say that to my face?”

Cartman, in typical inflammatory fashion, removes his face mask and responds: “Yeah? Can I come say it to your face? I’ll come say it to your face!” – prompting a panicked Stotch to exclaim: “No, no, no!”

Guidance counselor Mr Mackey is then seen encouraging students to “get all the vaccines you can and bring them here to school” as part of an unclear scheme. Shortly afterward, Cartman gets a strange $2,000 offer in exchange for a vaccination.

The trailer briefly cuts to the song “Shots” by Lil Jon feat LMFAO – which is originally about liquor shots but is repurposed in the trailer to allude to Covid vaccine shots.

Toward the end of the clip, Butters is seen having joined a group called Lil Q’Ties, in an apparent riff on QAnon, the real-life far-right conspiracy theory.

“I just wanted to believe in something that would get me out of the house,” says Butters.

Read more: All the times South Park has predicted the future

For the occasion, South Park – the fictional Colorado town where the programme is set – has been renamed South ParQ. The full title of the special is South ParQ Vaccination Special. Even the name of the South Park YouTube channel has been changed to South ParQ Studios.

The one-hour episode will air on Wednesday (10 March) at 8pm ET/PT on Comedy Central and MTV2, followed by two more broadcasts at 9pm ET/PT and 10pm ET/PT.

A previously unveiled special, The Pandemic Special, will air at 7pm ET/PT. It originally aired in September 2020 and, according to Comedy Central, became the show’s most watched episode in seven years.