Dead Celebrities

"Dead Celebrities" is the premiere episode of the second half of the thirteenth season of the animated television series South Park, and the season's eighth episode overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 7, 2009. The episode will air in the UK on Friday October 9, 2009.

Plot
For a while, Ike has been seeing ghosts of dead celebrities such as Billy Mays. Because of this, though Cartman does it for Billy ghost due to his promoting of the Chipotlaway, the boys call the Ghost Hunters to find the problem, but the Ghost Hunters end up urinating and defacating themselves. Soon after, Ike ends up in a hospitalized coma as a psychic then comes to help the boys, managing to contact the spirits as they reveal they're stuck in Purgatory because Michael Jackson refuses to accept his death. As the psychic gets thrown out a window by the ghost, Jackson possesses Ike's body as the other spirits are forced to remain in purgatory, which is like an airplane stuck on the runway. The only way to release Michael from Ike's body and to free the celebrities from purgatory is for the Michael to achieve his dream. The boys enter Michael in to a beauty pageant because he always wanted to be accepted as a little white girl. After Michael's singing performance, the two male judges love him. The police then come and take the two judges away for masturbating, leaving the female judge to decide the final outcome. Cartman sees her eating Chipotle and bribes her with the Chipotlway. Michael then wins and his spirit leaves Ike's body and goes back to purgatory. Purgatory then lifts off and takes all of the people to their destination, Hell.

Cultural references

 * Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson from The Atlantic Paranormal Society and Ghost Hunters are called in to investigate.
 * Some of the ghosts that Ike sees or are waiting on the plane in Purgatory are Billy Mays, who is advertising various products, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze, Natasha Richardson, Dom DeLuise, Ted Kennedy, John Hughes, Walter Cronkite, Ed McMahon, Adam Goldstein, Arturo Gatti, Bea Arthur, Steve McNair, Ricardo Montalbán, David Carradine, Les Paul, and Oscar G. Mayer, Jr..
 * The episode also refers to The Sixth Sense when Ike tells his therapist that he sees dead celebrities, reminiscent of the quotation, "I see dead people."
 * The episode features a spiritual medium reminiscent of Tangina Barrons from the film Poltergeist.
 * The episode parodies the movie Little Miss Sunshine and the show, Toddlers & Tiaras, with the children's pageant in the last part of the episode.