Stephen Stotch

Stephen Willis Stotch
Character Information
Aliases	Chris Stotch
Gender	Male
Hair	Brown
Occupation	Office Job Coach for South Park Baseball Team Amazon employee (formely)
Voiced by	Trey Parker
Relatives
Wife	Linda Stotch
Son	Butters Stotch
Mother	Grandma Stotch
Brother	Budd Stotch
Appearances
First	"Chickenlover"
Speaking	"Quintuplets 2000"

For other uses, see Steve (disambiguation).

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

Background

Stephen Stotch's first appearance in "Chickenlover"

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.

At times, Stephen seems to be homophobic. 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 interest, Lexus, Linda admits that Stephen beat her.

In the South park game Fractured But Whole there is a small quest involving breaking into a safe in Stephen's room. In the safe, there is a picture of him on the couch naked, on his hands and knees, with a seemingly pleasured face, implying that he was engaging in sexual activity with another man. The picture was labeled "wrestling". If you take the picture back to him, he gives you 20 dollars, possibly as a bribe, and says "I don't want any trouble from you Vigilante".  At some point in the game, if you go into his bathroom, Linda Stotch can be seen bathing and reading a book titled "Dealing with your gay husband" implying that she may still fear/know that he is still into men, though she appears to be nonchalant about it.

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, since he will go to extreme methods to help him, even trying to bring him back from the dead in "Marjorine". Adding onto this, he showed great conflict when going on strike as an Amazon worker, being torn by his integrity to his coworkers and providing for his family so Butters could be in the Bike Parade, and in the end, he chose to swallow his pride and return to Amazon headquarters, showing that his love for his son prevailed over his pride in that moment. He also shows concern when Butters goes missing (such as in "Casa Bonita"), but there are other times he has shown to be very selfish, considering his needs and ambitions above those of his son as demonstrated in "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset", although the price was admittedly ridiculously high and he made this decision after great deliberation. 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. Additionally, in City Sushi, when Stephen and Linda discovered Butters had inadvertently caused an Asian Turf War when wondering why Butters always caused so much trouble, he immediately ruled out the possibility of being bad parents, claiming he and Linda were "awesome". However, a way to interpret his bad behavior towards his son is that he simply doesn't understand that his behavior and excessive grounding are wrong, and despite all of the unnecessary and cruel groundings he gave Butters, he actually has the best interests of raising his son at-heart but just can't see how to properly do that.

At times, 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.

In "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls", he is shown as a movie theater projectionist, though this occupation has not been looked into any further than this episode.

In "Unfulfilled", he gets a new job at the Amazon Fulfillment Center.

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.

Criminal record

• Assault/Child Abuse: In "Jared Has Aides", he and his wife beat up Butters for badmouthing them over the phone when it was really Eric Cartman who did it. He also locks Butters in the basement thinking he was a hell-spawn in "Marjorine".

• Lying To Authorities: He and his wife lie to police and press by saying that Butters was kidnapped by a Puerto Rican man when in actuality his wife put him in her car, which was streaming down bodies of water.

• Filing a False Police Report: In "Butters' Very Own Episode", he and his wife file a false police report that Butters was kidnapped by a Puerto Rican man when he was actually in a car streaming in bodies of water by his wife.  

• Murder: In "Marjorine", Stephen murders a curtain company employee with a shovel to feed Butters when they believe that his "resurrection" made him a hell-spawn.

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.

To see images of Stephen Stotch, visit Stephen Stotch/Gallery.

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 wavelength regarding each other, and their raising of their son, Butters. However, their marriage suffers a painful shock when Linda discovers that Stephen is having homosexual affairs. This ends up driving her insane, and she attempts to kill Butters—and later, herself. While attempting to cover-up her supposed murder of their son, they create an elaborate lie regarding "some Puerto Rican guy". However, the lie soon becomes too complicated, and they fight constantly over how to keep the story straight, until at last they confess the truth. They seem 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" could be his middle name, although he states that his middle name is "Willis" in "The Magic Bush".

Butters Stotch

Butters Stotch is Stephen's son and only child. Stephen has been shown to sometimes care about Butters, but he often treats him very harshly, though he claims it's for Butters' own good. However, in the episode "Marjorine", when Butters pretends to kill himself, Stephen and Linda take his death horribly, and Stephen even goes so far as to bury what he believes to be Butters' body in an Indian Burial Ground in the hopes of reviving him. Eventually, he comes to believe that doing so would create a monster, and thus when Butters arrives home, he locks his son in the basement and feeds him dead bodies. Overall, while there have been many times he's given his son unfair punishment, it can be generally concluded that he does indeed love his son, as he said so in tears in City Sushi.

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", "Casa Bonita" and "Pandemic 2: The Startling", Stephen was referred to as 'Chris' instead of Stephen. This was likely due to production rush or a writing error.
• Stephen's middle name, Willis, was revealed in "The Magic Bush".
• Since "Franchise Prequel," Stephen has not grounded Butters lately.

Prominence

Stephen on South Park Studios.

• "Chickenlover" - This is his first appearance. He is seen as one of the citizens rioting in the street after Officer Barbrady quits.
• "The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka" - Seen in the crowd of Jesus and Pals during a riot.
• "Chef Aid" - Seen in court at the end of the episode.
• "Summer Sucks"
• "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls" - Seen in the movie theater working the projector.
• "Cow Days" - Seen as one of the citizens rioting in the carnival after Kyle declares shenanigans.
• "Gnomes" - Seen at the town hall meeting.
• "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" - Seen in the jury during Eric's trial against a Hate Crime.
• "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 (though it was actually Cartman pretending to be Butters on the phone).
• "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 rather than him.
• "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, then ground Butters after discovering that their son is dating Paris Hilton.
• "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" - He and his wife Linda worry about their missing son.
• "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 while he was supposed to be helping his mother clean the basement.
• "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 Ring" - Seen at Kenny‘s funeral.
• "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.
• "A Scause For Applause" - Seen in the background while Jesus Christ is giving his speech.
• "Informative Murder Porn" - Complains to the local cable company after his murder porn television programming is blocked and learns to play MINECRAFT.
• "Gluten Free Ebola" - Becomes gluten-free and tries to warn the employees of Papa John's Pizza about the dangers of gluten.
• "Handicar" - Becomes a Handicar driver.
• "The Magic Bush" - Stephen owns a drone and tries to discover how the drone is operating without him to operate it, and later tries to destroy it.
• "Grounded Vindaloop" - Gets assaulted by Butters, in virtual reality, and then grounds him indefinitely. However, over time, he forgets why he grounded Butters and finally apologizes and ungrounds him.
• "#HappyHolograms" - Is confused and doesn't know what the Holiday Special is about.
• "Stunning and Brave" - Seen at the PTA.
• "Naughty Ninjas"- Seen in the protest against the police.
• "Sponsored Content"-Seen in bed with his wife, reading the Super School News.
• "Member Berries" - Shows Randy Marsh Memberberries, to help him relax.
• "Skank Hunt" - Seen at the school assembly.
• "The Damned" - Seen at Skeeter's Wine Bar. Randy visits him at home to let him know he's voting for Mr. Garrison.
• "Wieners Out" - Seen at the community center in the Memberberries addiction meeting.
• "Douche and a Danish" - Seen at the addiction meeting for those addicted to Memberberries.
• "Oh, Jeez" - Seen greeting Bill Clinton at their door and inviting him to talk with Butters.
• "Members Only" - Seen shopping when President Garrison arrives and goes on a tirade.
• "Not Funny" - Seen at Harrison Yates' press conference about TrollTrace.com and at church.
• "Put It Down" - Seen at the school assembly.
• "Franchise Prequel" - Participates in a meeting with the other parents. Later asks Mark Zuckerberg to leave the Stotch Residence when he helps himself into their home. At the end of the episode, he takes Butters to meet Vladimir Putin in Russia, and grounds both of them.
• "Dead Kids"- Seen when Sharon calls the other parents together to speak about school shootings. Also comforts Randy and suggests Sharon is going through menopause. Later seen when Randy sings.
• "A Boy And A Priest" - Cracks jokes about Catholic Priests. Is later contacted by Randy when Butters disappears.
• "The Problem with a Poo" - Seen watching Mr. Hankey leave South Park.
• "The Scoots" - Tries to trick or treat to get treats so his family is protected.
• "Nobody Got Cereal?" - Seen at the South Park Community Center meeting with his wife.
• "Unfulfilled" - Gets a new job at the Amazon Fulfillment Center.
• "Mexican Joker" - He, along with other people in town, has started growing his own marijuana.
• "Band in China" - Seen at the Autumn Fest.
• "Shots!!!" - Tries to help Liane Cartman with the other parents to make Eric get his shots.
• "Let Them Eat Goo" - Seen in the town meeting.
• "Tegridy Farms Halloween Special" - Goes with his family at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
• "Season Finale" - Seen at Sharon's party at Tegridy Farms.
• "Basic Cable" - The Stotches call the Cable Company.
• "Christmas Snow" - Loses his "Christmas Spirit" after liquor is prohibited during the holidays, but cheers up after Randy comes up with his Christmas special.

References

Template:Stotch family

South Park families

Main characters' families Broflovski Family | Cartman Family | Marsh Family | McCormick Family Other characters' families Adams-Makowski Family | Barbrady Family | Biggle Family | Black Family | Burch Family | Charlotte's Family | Cotswolds Family | Daniels Family | Donovan Family | Garrison Family | Gray Family | Gueermo Family | Hakeem Family | Hankey Family | Harrison Family | Mackey Family | Malkinson Family | Mephesto Family | Nelly's Family | Red's Family | Rodriguez Family | Stevens Family | Stotch Family | Tenorman Family | Testaburger Family | Tucker Family | Turner Family | Tweak Family | Valmer Family | White Family