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Oh my God, they killed Kenny!

Stan

You bastards!

Kyle

ItsChristmasinCanada091

Stan and Kyle reacting to Kenny's death in "It's Christmas in Canada"

"Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" is a trademark gag used in many episodes of South Park, particularly during early seasons. After Kenny is killed by some method or person, Stan or Kyle (on one occasion, Cartman), saying "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!", with Kyle responding, "You bastard[s]!". The creators of the show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have said that Kyle is actually directing the insult at them, for writing Kenny's death into the show.

Background[]

The line originated from the short titled The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus vs. Frosty, when Kenny (an early version of Cartman who was named Kenny) is thrown by Frosty and dies. To this action, Kyle reacts by shouting, "Oh my God! Frosty killed Kenny!"

The catchphrase has changed slightly over time. While it is said in "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", with Stan speaking the first line and Kyle the response, many instances in the first season have Kyle would utter the whole phrase "Oh my God, they killed Kenny! You bastard[s]!" by himself. During later episodes, Stan would say, "Oh my God, they've killed Kenny!" with Kyle finishing the bit by saying, "You bastards!" as before. In recent seasons, Kyle's response is often excluded.

In multiple episodes, the phrase is treated as almost involuntary to Stan and Kyle, such as Kyle shouting "You bastards!" in "Clubhouses" when Kenny dies nearby but not visible to him. When Kelly questions in "Rainforest Shmainforest" who killed Kenny and why Stan and Kyle are not trying to resuscitate him, Stan and Kyle seem deeply confused by the entire thing. It was later used by Stan to find Kyle in "Super Best Friends", so that he could save him from drowning and get away from all of the Blaintologists, counting on Kyle to continue responding to the first half of the phrase.

The last time the full phrase is used is in "Make Love, Not Warcraft". However, the most recent occasion was "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining" where a live-action version of Kenny dies out of boredom. Kyle says the line and he and Cartman got into an argument about it, debating who the 'bastard' responsible for it is.

The phrase is so iconic it was translated into Portuguese, as seen in "Chickenlover" as well as Spanish, as seen in "W.T.F." The line was also uttered in Farsi in "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants, and in Japanese in "Titties and Dragons".

Variations[]

The lines are not universally tied with Stan and Kyle across all episodes. In several occasions, either lines may be used by a third character, or entirely covered by Kyle in their place. See List of Kenny's Deaths for full list.

The phrase is sometimes used upon the death of other characters: Jesus died in "Red Sleigh Down" when Stan shocks, "Oh my God, Iraqis killed Jesus!" and Chef was killed in "The Return of Chef" before Stan sadly replies, "Oh my God, they killed Chef."

Video Games[]

South Park (Pinball Machine)[]

In the South Park Pinball game made by SEGA in 1999, success in killing Kenny will show Stan and Kyle looking at the corpse after the death animation saying, "Oh my god, they killed Kenny!", following by the duo looking at the player in anger, Kyle finishing off the phrase by yelling "You bastard!" at the player. However, if the family-friendly mode is on, Stan will instead say "They killed Kenny!", removing "Oh my god," from the phrase. They give the player the same glare, and Kyle exclaims "Rats!" instead of "You bastard!". However, Kyle's lips still move to say "You bastard!" despite the audio saying "Rats!".

Trivia[]

International Names[]

Language Quote
Cantonese 大镬啦!渠哋杀咗碌葛! (daai6 wok6 laa1 keoi4 dei2 saat3 zo2 luk1 got3)
顶你! (ding2 nei5)
Czech Krucinál, zabili Kennyho!
Vy Parchanti!
French Oh mon dieu, ils ont tué Kenny!
Espèces d'enfoirés!
German Oh mein Gott, sie haben Kenny getötet!
Ihr Schweine!
Hungarian Istenem/Úristen, kicsinálták Kennyt!
Szemetek!
Italian Oh mio Dio, hanno ucciso Kenny!
Brutti bastardi!
Japanese なんてこった!ケニーが殺されちゃった! (Nantekotta! Kenī ga korosa re chatta!)
この人でなし! (Kono hitodenashi!)
Mandarin Chinese 我的天啊,阿尼他被掛掉了! (Wǒ de tiān a, ā ní tā bèi guà diào le!)
靠,你這個混蛋! (Kào, nǐ zhège húndàn!)
Polish O mój Boże, zabili Kenny'ego!
Wy dranie!
Portuguese (Brazil) Oh meu deus! Mataram o Kenny!
Filhos da Puta!
Spanish (Latin America) ¡Oh Dios Mío, mataron a Kenny!
¡Hijos de Puta!
Spanish (Spain) ¡Oh Dios Mío/Santo Dios, han matado a Kenny!
¡Hijos de Puta!
Ukrainian О боже, вони вбили Кенні (O bozhe, vony vbyly Kenni)
Ти гівнюк (Ty hivnyuk)
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