Blame Canada

"Blame Canada"
Promotional single by Mary Kay Bergman and Trey Parker
from the album South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
ReleasedJune 15, 1999; 25 years ago (1999-06-15)
Recorded1999
GenreSatire[1]
Length1:35
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman
Producer(s)Darren Higman
Audio sample

"Blame Canada" is a satirical song from the 1999 animated film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, written by Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman. The song satirizes scapegoating and parents who fail to control "their children's consumption of popular culture", with the fictional South Park parents, led by Sheila Broflovski (Mary Kay Bergman), blaming the nation for children imitating the Terrance and Phillip film Asses of Fire.

"Blame Canada" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 72nd Academy Awards. Parker and Matt Stone arrived at the ceremony in dresses previously worn by Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow, and later claimed to be under the influence of LSD while on the red carpet.[2]

An 8-bit remix of the song appears in the 2014 game South Park: The Stick of Truth, included as one of the overworld themes for the Canada level. The song appears again in the game's 2017 sequel, South Park: The Fractured but Whole, near the Canadian wall.[3]

Shaiman wrote new lyrics for the song in 2023 reflecting conspiracy theories about the Canadian wildfires that year.[4][5]

  1. ^ Shehori, Steven. "Video: Robin Williams Sings 'Blame Canada' At The 2000 Oscars". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on March 25, 2023. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  2. ^ Swapnil Dhruv Bose (27 December 2021). "When Trey Parker and Matt Stone went to the Oscars on LSD". FarOutMagazine.co.uk.
  3. ^ Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock (11 September 2008). Taking South Park Seriously. SUNY Press. pp. 61–. ISBN 978-0-7914-7566-9.
  4. ^ Shaiman, Marc (June 7, 2023). "BLAME CANADA 2023". Facebook. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  5. ^ Vinay Menon (8 June 2023). "Blame Canada? Why the wildfires are fuelling some … pretty wild conspiracy theories". Toronto Star.