"Dead Celebrities" is the eighth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 189th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 7, 2009. In the episode, Ike is haunted by the ghosts of dead celebrities, and is eventually possessed by the spirit of Michael Jackson.
The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. "Dead Celebrities" included references to several actors, singers and famous people who died in the summer of 2009, when South Park was on a mid-season hiatus. Among the celebrities featured in the episode were Billy Mays, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Walter Cronkite, Dom DeLuise, Edward Kennedy, Natasha Richardson, Bea Arthur, David Carradine, DJ AM and Steve McNair. "Dead Celebrities" also parodied the films The Sixth Sense and Poltergeist.
The reality series Ghost Hunters and its stars, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, were mocked in the episode. Hawes and Wilson said they loved the parody and encouraged fans to watch the show on their Twitter accounts. A subplot claimed food at the Chipotle Mexican Grill resulted in customers defecating blood, a claim which was disputed by the restaurant chain within days of the episode's broadcast. "Dead Celebrities" received generally mixed reviews. According to Nielsen ratings, "Dead Celebrities" was seen by 2.67 million overall households.
Read more about Dead Celebrities: Plot, Production and Theme, Cultural References, Reception, Home Release
Famous quotes containing the words dead and/or celebrities:
“They have given us into the hand of new unhappy lords,
Lords without anger and honour, who dare not carry their swords.
They fight by shuffling papers; they have bright dead alien eyes;
They look at our labour and laughter as a tired man looks at flies.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)