Chef Goes Nanners

"Chef Goes Nanners" is episode 55 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on July 5, 2000.

Plot
Jimbo and Chef are in the Mayor’s office, arguing over the South Park flag. Jimbo says that the flag design has been around since the time of their forefathers, and should remain; Chef protests that it is racist and needs to be changed. When the mayor unfurls the flag, asking him what’s wrong with it, we see why he’s angry: it shows four white figures hanging a black figure in the gallows.

The third grade class is given an assignment to work on the “Change the Flag” debate, and are given time for research. Stan, Kyle, and Kenny talk with Jimbo over the matter, while Wendy, Bebe, Clyde and Butters join Chef in gathering support from the locals, who really don’t care about either side of the issue. Stan and Kyle are in charge of the group who want the flag to stay the same; Wendy and Cartman lead the group supporting the changing of the flag.

At lunch time, Stan and Kyle ask Chef for help. It turns out Chef has legally changed his name to “Abdul Mohammed Jabar Rauf Kareem Ali”, and converted to Islam. When they say that they are working to keep the flag the same way, he gets terribly angry, though they don’t understand why. Wendy leads her team in the library when Cartman suddenly interrupts the process with his own strategy. He gets the team to go dig info on Stan and Kyle, and thereby win the debate using Ad hominem attacks on their opponents' credibility.

Back at the city hall, a branch of the Klu Klux Klan joins the side supporting keeping the flag the same way, saying that the design is a symbol of “white power”. Jimbo, Ned, and the other flag supporters don’t want to be on the same side as the KKK, and become uneasy about these new supporters. Jimbo and Ned then go to a night time meeting of the Klan members, disguised as members themselves, and tell the leader that they ought to switch sides, and fight to have the flag changed. They then explain that the people already on that side will probably work to keep the flag the way it is, knowing that the KKK are in favour of changing it. This idea is accepted, but while Jimbo and Ned are leaving, Chef happens to notice them dressed as KKK members, and leaves without explanation. A Visitor spies on this scene but makes no more appearances.

The mayor then shows Chef how the flag has changed - now the black man being hanged it smiling serenely, - but Chef is dissatisfied and leaves again. The mayor then decides she wants no further part in this debate, and leaves it up to the kids. While Wendy and Cartman are working together, they develop a strong sexual attraction. Things become worse for Wendy after she dreams of him that night, and she seeks advice from Bebe, who tells her this is a normal occurrence, and the best way to get it out of her system is to kiss Cartman.

While Wendy is trying to give her speech on the issue, she keeps getting distracted by her crush on Cartman. In frustration, she kisses Cartman, - and Stan looks shocked and appalled for the rest of the scene, - and then continues with her speech. It is later found out that Stan and Kyle’s side thought that the debate was on capital punishment, and never even noticed the fact that the hanged man was black, and the executioners were white. In the end, everyone reaches a compromise.

Ethnic diversity is added to the flag. People of all races are hanging the black man, including a black man among the mob, and all are happy and holding hands. Also, Chef delivers the moral of this story: that his inclination to anti-racism almost made him a racist and perceiving things according to race leads only to further racism. In the final scene, Wendy tells Cartman she’s lost all her feelings for him, and runs off to be with Stan, leaving Cartman alone and dejected.

Kenny's Death
Kenny explodes after eating a bowl of Kyle's dad's antacids (thinking they were mints) and drinking a glass of water. Following a brief pause, everybody in the room bursts out laughing and clapping, and Stan says, "That was a good one." This is one of many times that Stan and Kyle don't say "Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!"/"You bastards!"

Trivia

 * This episode satires the controversy about the state flag of Mississippi.
 * When two men are talking about the ball game interfering with the date of the protest, two pairs of feet are seen next to them which connect to two women's bodies as they come out of the supermarket.
 * Mr. Garrison insists he is not a racist or a Klan member in this episode. However, he was seen in Here Comes the Neighborhood trying to get the "richers" (who were all black) out of South Park using Ku Klux Klan techniques (Such as dressing up in their robes or burning crosses) and reveals with his last line of the episode that his intentions were purely racist.
 * This episode is the only one where Wendy is seen without her trademark beret.
 * Chef's threat to burn a monk in protest is a reference to the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc in 1963, a Buddhist monk who burned himself in a similar fashion as seen above.