Alexa-Themed ‘South Park’ Premiere Causes Chaos for Fans’ Actual Devices
For every advancement in modern convenience, there must also come obvious flaws. Alexa and Google Home owners may have learned this the hard way with South Park’s Season 21 premiere, as the numerous jokes about Alexa responses naturally set off the devices in viewers’ own homes.
The episode in question saw Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Home devices as central plot points; largely for Cartman’s amusement at their willingness to answer absurd questions and repeat things he’d say. As UPROXX compiled, a number of viewers who actually own the devices found them reacting to the episode, and treating Cartman’s words as legitimate instructions (beware of some NSFW South Park-grade language):
Another moment saw Cartman using multiple Google Homes and Alexas to repeat the infamous trick of both devices speaking to one another on an endless loop. This isn’t the first time Alexa and Google Home have been unwitting victims of TV, as everything from Burger King ads to an episode of Mr. Robot have had similar effects on devices incapable of distinguishing actual human voices.
Should Alexa become a recurring gag akin to last year’s “Member Berries,” we might live through South Park’s chaos for the next nine weeks. Stay tuned for more on Season 21 in the meantime.