Stephen Stotch

Stephen Stotch (born September 15, 1961), interchangeable with Chris in some episodes, is a character in South Park the father of Butters Stotch, and husband of Linda Stotch.

Appearance
He wears a drab, olive-green shirt, a distinctive white tie, and blue jeans and black sneakers. He has brown hair, in a style similar to a grown-out crew cut.

Sexuality
In "Butters' Very Own Episode", Stephen is revealed to be bi-curious, in that he likes women, but would also go 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.

Curiously enough, 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 a proper role in "Butters' Very Own Episode" Stephen appeared to be a very loving, and 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 "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".

Although Stephen obviously loves and cares for Butters and will go to extreme methods to help him (such as trying to bring him back from the dead in "Marjorine"), 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".

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

He is also seen smoking a pipe at times, suggesting that he could be a smoker.

Career and Occupations
Since he is a dicisplinarian, it is implied that he may have served in the miltary. He is the coach of the little league baseball team. In Jared Has Aides, he is seen working in a cubicle.

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

Linda Stotch
She 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
He is Stephen's son and only child. Stephen cares about Butters a lot, but he often treats him very harshly, though he thinks it's for Butters' own good. Although at time it seems he enjoys yelling and grounding Butters just for the hell of it, as seen in "The Ungroundable". However as seen in the episode "Marjorine", when Butters pretend to kill himself and becomes a girl so that her can get a future telling device from the girls, 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-truth it's a dead pig'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.

Friends
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".

Vehicles Owned
Stephen normally drives an animated copy of a orange Lexus RX300, but in "Smug Alert!" and "Hell on Earth 2006" it's shown that the family also owns a Prius-like MPV.

Episodes in which he is Prominent

 * 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 bicurious, while Butters is spying on him.
 * Jared Has Aides - Stephen and Linda ground Butters for having a liposuction in their house. He is seen holding a job in a Cubicle.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * AWESOM-O- Sends Butters and AWESOM-O to Los Angeles.
 * Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset- Stephen and Linda make a deal with Paris Hilton selling Butters to her for $200 Million.
 * The Death of Eric Cartman- Tells Butters not to be afraid of anything but Super-AIDS.
 * Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow- Fears Global Warming in South Park and helps Randy and Gerald.
 * 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 who are hiding from the homeless people.
 * More Crap - Stephen is one of the men supporting Randy in the crapping competition.
 * The List - Decides not to ground Butters after he turned out not to be the ugliest boy in the class (on either the real list or the corrupt list)
 * Pandemic - Gets Randy'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, among the staffs of South Park Elementary School voted for John McCain. Then hide in the "Ark", which himself provides.
 * The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs - Grounds Butters for the book's bad language.
 * It's a Jersey Thing - Stephen is against Randy's idea to ask al-Queda for help to destroy the Jerseyites; also is raped by a Snooki.

Goofs

 * 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. Since his real name is Stephen, and he was occasionally called "Chris", it's possible his full name may be Stephen Christopher "Chris" Stotch.

Stephen Stotch