Stephen Stotch

Stephen Stotch, also known as Chris, is Butters' father as well as Linda Stotch's husband.

Sexuality
In "Butters' Very Own Episode", Stephen is revealed to be bi-curious, in that he likes women, but he is seen going to a gay men's bathhouse to perform homosexual activities. After it nearly cost him his family and marriage, he suppressed these urges. However, in "Cartman Sucks", he reveals his sexuality to Butters and doesn't mind if his son turns out the same way.

He seems to be homophobic at times. At the beginning of "Cartman Sucks", when he walks in on Butters with Cartman's penis in his mouth, he fears his son is turning gay and sends him to a camp where they supposedly "pray the gay away". Also, in "Raisins", it is revealed that he made a bet with his wife that their son would not turn out gay. When Butters tells them about his love, Lexus, Linda admits that Stephen beat her.

Characteristics
When he was first given an in-depth role in "Butters' Very Own Episode", Stephen appeared to be a very loving, almost a sitcom-like father, making bad, yet good-natured jokes and being rather sweet to his wife and son. However, as the episode progressed his bi-curious lifestyle was revealed, as was his desire to use extreme methods to cover-up things that could negatively affect him. In later episodes, he's noted for the harsh way in which he treats his son, Butters, as he often grounds him for little things or things that weren't his fault, or that he had no control over such as in "The Ungroundable." He has beaten him on occasion, such as "Jared Has Aides", and he's openly snapped at Butters, such as telling him to shut his mouth, as seen in "The Death Camp of Tolerance".

There is some debate over whether Stephen really cares for his son - while he will go to extreme methods to help him, even trying to bring him back from the dead in "Marjorine". He also shows concern when Butters goes missing (such as in "Casa Bonita"), he is also shown to be very selfish, considering his needs and ambitions above those of his son as demonstrated in "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset". He has a very heavy-handed approach to discipline, which has resulted in Butters seeing him as a kind of monster, as shown in "Imaginationland, Episode III". In "Pre-School", he was quick to convince his wife that it was neither of their faults that Butters was badly beaten up by a bully on their doorstep, even though it was him who refused to let a frantic Butters back in the house.

At times however, he does seem slightly more down to earth than the other adults in town, as seen in "Cartoon Wars Part I." Most often than not, he usually will overreact though, like all the other adults. He can also be noted for the strange manner in which he cries or weeps.

Career and Occupations
He is the coach of the little league baseball team. In "Jared Has Aides", he is seen working in a cubicle.

Vehicles Owned
Stephen normally drives an animated version of an orange Lexus SUV, but in "Smug Alert!" and "Hell on Earth 2006" it's shown that the family also owns a Prius-like MPV. In "Smug Alert!" he changed his car to a "Hybrid" but then changed back to his normal vehicle at the end of the episode.

Appearance
He wears a drab, olive-green shirt, a distinctive white tie, blue jeans and black sneakers. He has brown hair, in a style similar to a grown-out crew cut. He is also seen smoking a pipe at times, suggesting that he could be a regular smoker.

Family
Stephen's name suggests German and/or Scottish heritage.

Linda Stotch
Linda Stotch is Stephen's quiet and at times, submissive wife. They normally appear to be a sweet and loving couple, who are often on the same wave-length regarding each other and their raising of their son Butters. However, their marriage suffered a painful shock when Linda discovered that Stephen was having homosexual affairs, which drove her insane and she attempted to kill Butters and later herself. While attempting to cover-up her supposed murder of their son, they created an elaborate lie regarding "some Puerto Rican guy". However, the lie soon became too complicated and they fought constantly over how to keep the story straight, until at last confessing the truth. They seems to have recovered from that incident, and have never discussed it again.

Linda constantly changes between calling him "Stephen" and "Chris". Since he is called "Stephen" more often than he is called "Chris", it can be assumed that "Chris" is his middle name.

Butters Stotch
Butters Stotch is Stephen's son and only child. Stephen has been shown to care about Butters, but he often treats him very harshly, though he claims it's for Butters' own good. Although at times, it seems he enjoys yelling and grounding Butters just for the hell of it, as seen in "The Ungroundable". However, in the episode "Marjorine", when Butters pretended to kill himself, Stephen and Linda take his death horribly, and Stephen even goes so far as to bury what he believes to be Butter's body in an Indian Burial Ground in the hopes of reviving him. However, he comes to believe that doing so would have created a monster, and thus when Butters arrives home, he locks his son in the basement and feeds him dead bodies.

Relationships
He is a good friend of Randy Marsh and Gerald Broflovski and he is among the more prominent adults of the town. He has accompanied Randy and Gerald on many expeditions, such as when they try to save their kids in "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow" even when his own son wasn't missing. He and Linda also invited the Marshes, Broflovskis, and Cartmans to accompany them to Aspen in "Asspen".

Trivia

 * In "Butters' Very Own Episode", "Asspen", "My Future Self n' Me", "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset", and "Pandemic 2: The Startling", Stephen was accidentally referred to as 'Chris' instead of Stephen. This was likely due to production rush or writer error.

Prominence

 * "Chickenlover" - This is his first appearance. He is seen as one of the citizens rioting in the street after Officer Barbrady quits.
 * "Cow Days" - Seen as one of the citizens rioting in the carnival after Kyle declares shenanigans.
 * "Quintuplets 2000" - First speaking role, acting as a protester.
 * "The Wacky Molestation Adventure" - First shown as Butters' father.
 * "Butters' Very Own Episode" - Stephen is shown to be bi-curious, while Butters is spying on him.
 * "Jared Has Aides" - Stephen and Linda ground Butters for having liposuction surgery in their house. He and Linda beat Butters for swearing at them.
 * "Asspen" - Stephen and his family accompany the Marshes, Broflovskis, and Cartmans to Aspen.
 * "Freak Strike" - Stephen and Linda ground Butters for putting fake balls on his chin.
 * "Red Hot Catholic Love" - Stephen and Linda are among the parents that decide to convert to being atheist.
 * "Child Abduction is Not Funny" - Stephen and Linda are among the parents worried about having their child abducted.
 * "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers" - Stephen and Linda allow Butters to watch The Lord of the Rings but then help find the boys, after being told it was actually Back Door Sluts 9.
 * "The Death Camp of Tolerance" - Sends Butters to Tolerance Camp.
 * "My Future Self n' Me" - Stephen and Linda provide Butters a future self.
 * "Casa Bonita" - Looks for Butters, who had been lost for several days.
 * "Raisins" - Stephen wins the bet of whether Butters would be gay, but then tries to convince his son that Lexus only wants his money.
 * "AWESOM-O" - Sends Butters to Los Angeles to visit his Aunt Nellie and Uncle Budd.
 * "Pre-School" - Stephen and Linda force Butters to play outside, causing their son to be bullied by Trent Boyett.
 * "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" - Stephen and Linda make a deal with Paris Hilton, selling Butters to her for $250 Million.
 * "Die Hippie, Die" - Stephen tries to stop Linda from going in the Hippie Core Drill Machine and stalls Mayor McDaniels from nuking the crowd.
 * "The Losing Edge" - Stephen coaches the South Park Little League Baseball Team.
 * "The Death of Eric Cartman" - He is worried about his son's mental state, and has him sent to the South Park Institute of Mental Health.
 * "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow" - Fears Global Warming in South Park and helps Randy and Gerald rally the town in the community center.
 * "Marjorine" - Stephen tries to bring Butters back to life by digging up his "corpse" and reburying it in an old Indian burial ground.
 * "Cartoon Wars Part I" - Stephen gives a thoughtful speech at the town meeting.
 * "Cartman Sucks" - Stephen fears that Butters is turning gay, so he sends him to a religious camp, where they supposedly "pray the gay away".
 * "Night of the Living Homeless" - Stephen and Linda end up amongst the fugitives on the roof of the community center, who are hiding from the homeless people.
 * "More Crap" - Stephen is one of the men supporting Randy in the 'biggest crap' competition.
 * "Imaginationland Episode II" - Stephen tells Butter's that he's still in Imaginationland.
 * "Imaginationland Episode III" - Butters imagines him as a monster; appears at the end to tell him he's grounded for being in Imaginationland.
 * "The List" - Decides not to ground Butters after he turned out not to be the ugliest boy in the class.
 * "Pandemic" - Gets Randy Marsh's attention to get him to get away from a giant guinea pig that is right in his path.
 * "About Last Night" - Stephen's family voted for John McCain. They then hide in an "Ark", which he builds and provides.
 * "The Ungroundable" - Scolds Butters for misorganizing the pantry then appears helpless at his son's "transformation" into a vampire.
 * "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs" - Grounds Butters for the bad language in The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs.
 * "It's a Jersey Thing" - Stephen is against Randy's idea to ask Al-Queda for help to destroy the people from Jersey; also is raped by Snooki.
 * "City Sushi" - He and his wife take Butters to see a specialist because of his supposed multiple personality disorder.
 * "Broadway Bro Down" - He is among the men to realize the benefits of musicals and to support Randy's musical, The Woman in White.
 * "Butterballs" - Seen with his wife at home.
 * "Sarcastaball" - Stephen tells Butter's to not talk about his "creamy goo"; grounds him at the end for giving his creamy goo to everyone to drink.
 * "Insecurity" - Stephen is among the adult males that rally to get rid of the UPS man.
 * "Going Native" - Stephen and Linda send Butters to their native land of Hawaii to fix his anger issues.