Trey Parker and Matt Stone on Mormons

1. Trey Parker, Matt Stone and
Mormons?
what's the deal?

3. Lets begin with Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
• My research begins with Parker and Stone.
There needs to be an understanding that these
guys have made a living off from making fun of
“everything”.
• Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the creators of
the ever popular adult cartoon South Park. They
have also made a few movies, South Park: Bigger,
Longer & Uncut and Orgazmo. Then of course, you
have the musical “The Book of Mormon.”
• When it comes to Parker and Stone, all topics are
a target. They “bash” every religion, well
everything and everyone, for that matter but, it
seems that they keep coming back to Mormons.
Why?

4. The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints
• After a little back ground of Parker and Stone I
thought it necessary to introduce a little bit
about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints, AKA the LDS church or Mormons for
short.
• Quickly defined, as a Christian church that is
considered by its members to be the restoration
of the original church founded by Jesus Christ.
Joseph Smith restored the Church in 1830.
Smith translated brass plates and The Book of
Mormon was written. Of course, this is a very
brief and not in depth explanation.

5. So they are Mormon, right?
Logically, my first question was….
Trey Parker and Matt Stone must have
been or are Mormon, right?
No. Neither Parker or Stone have been
Mormon. They both were raised
agnostic. There was no religion in the
home. They did grow up learning about
Mormons because it was part of their
local culture. They lived in Colorado.
They had friends who were members of
the church.
Parker: “We just knew a lot about
Mormons”.

6. Why Mormons?
I was beginning to understand that Parker
and Stone like Mormons. I haven't read any
literature that suggest that they dislike them.
They are truly fascinated by the religion.
Matt Stone: “There’s something about
Mormon culture and, like I said, the big
smiles they have. It seems like they’re
always about to break out into song.”
Trey Parker: “ I’ve been fascinated with the
Mormons for a long time. They are the
nicest people in the world. If a religion’s
going to take over the world, and the one
that really believes “just be super nice to
everyone” takes over, that’s all right with
me.” He goes on to say that he grew up in
Mormon Central. His first girlfriend was
Mormon.

7. Mormon Stereotype….
Then I shifted my thinking to , what is there to
make fun about Mormons? Some are true.
Most are not.
1. Missionaries
2. White button up shirts
3. Always smiling
4. Extremely happy
5. All polygamists
6. Have a ton of kids
7. Ride bikes everywhere
8. All drive minivans
9. Don’t drink caffeine
10. Hands out The Book of Mormon to
everyone.

8. What does the Mormon
Church have say about all this?
I had to know what the Church thought about the musical idea. “The Book of
Mormon” has been a huge hit and is often sold out. I had an idea that they
would be easy going with it.
When “The Book of Mormon” musical opened in 2011, the LDS church issued
the following statement:
“The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the
Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people’s lives forever by
bringing them closer to Christ.”
Stone: “We, know Mormons who’ve seen the show and they like it. Maybe
they like that someone’s paying attention to them.”
The church did take out ad campaigns in the musicals playbill. They said things
like, “Hey, you’ve seen the show. Now read the book.” The Church was paying
them for ad space.
“But we have chosen not to take the offence, not to campaign against the
musical, not to try to censor its misrepresentations. We do believe strongly in
freedom of speech. We recognize the musical offers us an unparalleled
opportunity to place the truth and beauty of our Christian faith before a wider
audience.”- Elder Robert Dudfield

9. From a Mormons
perspective. Mine.
• I am a Mormon. I was
baptized 2.5 years ago. I
am not a scriptorium, nor
am I perfect and still
learning a lot about my
new found religion. How
do I feel about Parker and
Stones humor towards
Mormons?
• I am not offended. I find
their South park episodes
and the movie Orgazmo
funny. I don’t think that
they are being mean.
Honestly, I think they have
come pretty close to
accurately portraying
some of the Mormon
views.
The musical is drawing
attention to the LDS
religion, showing people
that we all are not minivan
driving aliens throwing
The Book of Mormon out
the window to everyone
we see. I think the
attention is a good thing,
and from bits and pieces
that I have seen on
YouTube, it looks hilarious.

10. The deal is…
• I learned that Trey Parker and Matt Stone kind of
have a soft spot for Mormons. That they like
Mormons and they like to have a sense of humor as
well. I think that it is easy for them to write about
Mormons since they grew up next-door to it. In
reality it is a fascinating idea for them to write on.
• My research answered my original question. It’s a
simple answer. I found it within minutes. I was a
little disappointed that there wasn’t a bigger story
to uncover.
• I learned that I research topics I like fairly easy. If
this has been an assigned topic, I would have had a
hard time researching it. However, I found some
funny material and learned a few things along the
way.

11. Works Cited
"Are South Park Creators Mormon? Were They LDS?" Holy Fetch! The Mormon Urban Legend and Myth Site.
Elaine Greathurst, 16 Dec. 2016. Web. 14 Apr. 2017.
Jones, Morgan. "How the LDS Church's Response to 'The Book of Mormon' Musical Is Actually
Working." DeseretNews.com. Deseret News, 16 Nov. 2016. Web. 14 Apr. 2017.
Redirect Notice. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2017.
Jacobs, A. J. "Trey Parker Matt Stone, Americans." Ebscohost.com. Esquire, 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2017.
<http://web.a.ebscohost.com.cwi.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid>.
Schafter, Monique. "Matt Stone and Trey Parker on The Book of Mormon." ABC - Australian Broadcasting
Corporation. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Dudfield, Robert. "The Mormon Musical Is Ok, but the Book Is Better." Age The, (Melbourne). N.p., 09 Jan. 2017.
Web. 13 Apr. 2017. <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.cwi.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=ef6e74ad-
1e85-4cc7-a25e-
be463442348f@sessionmgr104&hid=124&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=DOC6T9OGYI
XGAV13T7A7M3N&db=n5h>.