Matt Stone
By:
May 26, 2014
An artistic partnership allows two people to be greater than the sum of their parts. So it is with MATT STONE (born 1971), who created the animated TV show South Park and the Tony-award winning musical Book of Mormon alongside Trey Parker. While Parker often takes the lead in interviews, the comedic contributions of Stone — the first student in University of Colorado at Boulder history to major in both film and mathematics — are crucial. The two developed South Park, whose 18th season will premiere later this year, from animated shorts they created in 1992 and 1995; the latter was one of the first Internet viral videos. During a 2010 controversy stemming from their plan to use a likeness of the prophet Muhammad in a South Park episode, Stone spoke out boldly when the show’s network forced them to censor the Muhammad scene: “I think Comedy Central totally fucking pussed out,” he said. “Now, they weren’t any different than anyone else, so it’s not like you can single them out. But I think it would’ve been an important statement for one media outlet in America to stand up.”
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On his or her birthday, HiLobrow irregularly pays tribute to one of our high-, low-, no-, or hilobrow heroes. Also born this date: Pam Grier, John Wayne, Al Jolson.
READ MORE about members of the Reconstructionist Generation (1964–1973).