7. South Park inspires ‘Kick a Ginger Day’ at a school
One of the more memorable episodes of the series is “Ginger Kids”. It starts cruelly enough with Cartman delivering a hate speech against gingers. Specifically, he goes off on people with red hair, pale skin, and freckles. As Kyle also has red hair, Cartman refers to him as another type of ginger.
The boys are quickly sickened by Cartman’s hate rhetoric. After it escalates to the point where gingers are separated at school, the others seek revenge. They sneak into Cartman’s room, dye his hair, and apply henna freckle tattoos. The next day, Cartman believes he has become a ginger.
Now, Cartman organizes a Nazi-like militia with the other gingers. They decide to exterminate every non-ginger until Kyle reveals to Cartman what they did. Cartman calls off his followers realizing they’d kill him too if they learn he’s not really one of them.
Most people saw the humor in the episode, but students at Wingfield Academy in Yorkshire took things way too far. Based on this episode, some of the kids started “Kick a Ginger Day”, which is as terrible as it sounds. Multiple red-haired students were bullied and kicked until the school intervened.