‘South Park’ takes on school shootings

A school shooting at South Park Elementary?

The 22nd season debut of Comedy Central’s “South Park” is titled “Dead Kids” and includes a dinner discussion of a school shooting.

It’s not known whether the episode, which airs at 10 tonight, directly references the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland or other schoolrelated shootings that followed. But a teaser to the episode seems to address the normalcy of school shootings.

A publicist for the Comedy Central series did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The sometimes controversial animated series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone is known for poking fun of weighty topical issues. So we wouldn’t be surprised if cartoon versions of Parkland gun control advocates David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez or Cameron Kasky show up somewhere in the episode. The show has also been sarcastically promoting the hashtag #CancelSouthPark on Twitter for the new season.

In a clip from the episode set at the dinner table, Stan’s mom Sharon asks him, “Do you want to tell your father what happened at school today?”

“Um, oh I flunked my math quiz,” the boy answers.

“No, the other thing,” his mom demands.

“What other thing? What happened at school today,” Stan’s dad asks.

“Oh, the school shooting?” Stan replies, and then further elaborates, “Oh yeah, some kid shot up the school,” he says casually.

The father asks who shot up the school and if it was him and if he was shot. Stan answers no to all the above. And the father goes on to ask him about his math quiz.