Editing Kenny McCormick (section)

==Deaths==
{{Main|List of deaths of Kenny McCormick}}
Prior to [[South Park season 6|season six]], Kenny died in almost every episode. The nature of the deaths were often gruesome and portrayed in a comically absurd fashion,<ref name=cnnleonard>{{cite news|author=Devin Leonard|title='South Park' creators haven't lost their edge|publisher=CNN|date=October 27, 2006|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391792/index.htm|access-date=May 3, 2009|archive-date=November 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107220939/https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391792/index.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> and usually followed by Stan Marsh or Kyle Broflovski respectively yelling "Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!" with the other yelling "You bastard(s)!"<ref name="nypost">{{cite news |author=Don Kaplan |date=April 8, 2002 |title=South Park Won't Kill Kenny Anymore |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,49748,00.html |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090512074744/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,49748,00.html |archive-date=May 12, 2009 |access-date=May 5, 2009 |work=[[New York Post]]}}</ref> Shortly afterward, rats would commonly appear and begin picking at his corpse.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|author=Bill Carter|title=Comedy Central makes the most of an irreverent, and profitable, new cartoon hit|work=The New York Times|date=November 10, 1997|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE5D61239F933A25752C1A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2|access-date=May 5, 2009|archive-date=February 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090204203028/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE5D61239F933A25752C1A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2|url-status=live}}</ref> In a following episode, Kenny would reappear alive and well, usually without any explanation. Most characters appear oblivious or indifferent to the phenomenon, although occasionally one will acknowledge awareness of it.<ref name=avr>{{cite news|author=Abbie Bernstein |title=South Park – Volume 2 |publisher=AVRev.com |date=October 27, 1998 |url=http://www.avrev.com/dvd-movie-disc-reviews/tv-shows/south-park-volume-2.html |access-date=April 30, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515045446/http://www.avrev.com/dvd-movie-disc-reviews/tv-shows/south-park-volume-2.html |archive-date=May 15, 2013 }}</ref> In "[[Cherokee Hair Tampons]]", Kenny gets irritated and offended when Stan laments Kyle's critical condition while utterly ignoring Kenny's past demises. Eric Cartman commented on Kenny's deaths in the episode "[[Cartmanland]]" when he is being sued for unsafe rides insisting to attorneys representing his family that "Kenny? He dies all the time!" In "[[Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo]]", as the episode is about to end, the kids point out that "something feels unfinished", and Kenny celebrates as "The End" sign appears; it is the first episode in the series he survives.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stevens |first1=Jeff |title=The Best Live-Action 'South Park' Commercials |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/best-south-park-fake-commercials_n_6118024 |website=HuffPost |access-date=February 22, 2022 |date=November 7, 2014 |archive-date=February 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222065346/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/best-south-park-fake-commercials_n_6118024 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Near the end of the production run of the show's [[South Park season 5|fifth season]], creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone contemplated having an episode in which Kenny was killed off permanently. The reasoning behind the idea was to genuinely surprise fans, and to allow an opportunity to provide a major role for [[Butters Stotch]], a breakout character whose popularity was growing with the viewers and creators of the show.<ref name=commentary>{{cite video|people=Trey Parker, Matt Stone|date=2005|title=South Park" – The Complete Fifth Season|medium=DVD|publisher=Comedy Central}} Mini-commentary for episode "Kenny Dies"</ref> In the episode "[[Kenny Dies]]", Kenny dies after developing [[Terminal illness|terminal]] [[muscular dystrophy]],<ref name=buzzle>{{cite news|title=South Park's Kenny R.I.P. |publisher=Buzzle.com |date=April 9, 2002 |url=http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-9-2002-16245.asp |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130118150829/http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-9-2002-16245.asp |url-status=usurped |archive-date=January 18, 2013 |access-date=May 5, 2009 }}</ref> while Parker and Stone claimed that Kenny would not be returning in subsequent episodes. The duo insisted they grew tired of upholding the tradition of having Kenny die in each episode.<ref name=growsup1>{{cite magazine|author=Jaime J. Weinman |title=South Park grows up |magazine=Maclean's |date=March 12, 2008 |url=http://www.macleans.ca/culture/entertainment/article.jsp?content=20080312_115131_115131&page=1 |access-date=April 30, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719082617/http://www.macleans.ca/culture/entertainment/article.jsp?content=20080312_115131_115131&page=1 |archive-date=July 19, 2009 }}</ref> Stone stated that thinking of humorous ways to kill the character was initially fun, but became more mundane as the series progressed.<ref name=buzzle/> When they determined that it would be too difficult to develop the character because he was too much of a "prop", Parker and Stone finally decided to kill off Kenny permanently.<ref name=nypost/><ref name=page2>{{cite news|author=Page 2 Staff|title=Matt Stone|publisher=[[ESPN]]|date=March 13, 2002|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=1350858&type=page2Story|access-date=May 5, 2009|archive-date=November 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109224708/http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1350858&type=page2Story|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|["Kenny Dies"] was the one episode where [all the characters] cared [he was dying] for once. After that, we said, "Why doesn't he just stay dead?" And it was like, "Okay, let's just do that." It was that easy of a decision. I think a lot of people probably haven't noticed. I couldn't care less. I am so sick of that character.
:— Matt Stone, from a 2002 article in the ''[[Knoxville News-Sentinel]]''<ref name=buzzle/>}}

For much of season six, Kenny remained dead, though he still appears to possess Cartman's body, and both Stone and Parker entertained the idea of eventually bringing the character back.<ref name=page2/> According to Stone, only a small minority of fans were significantly angered by Kenny's absence to threaten a boycott of the cable channel [[Comedy Central]], on which ''South Park'' is aired.<ref name=nypost/> For most of the season, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman fill the void left by Kenny by allowing the characters Butters Stotch and [[List of South Park characters#Tweek Tweak|Tweek Tweak]] into their group, paving the way for those characters to receive more focus on the show; nevertheless, Kenny returned from the year-long absence in the season six finale "[[Red Sleigh Down]]", has remained a main character since, and has been given larger roles in episodes.<ref name=page2/><ref name=ids>{{cite news|author=Alyson Brodsy and Mark Perlman-Price|title=A season without Kenny|work=[[Indiana Daily Student]]|date=October 20, 2005|url=http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=43709|access-date=May 5, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090718213736/http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=43709|archive-date=July 18, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Semigram, Aly. [http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/11/17/south-park-penn-state-scandal/ "'South Park' tries to go for laughs with the Penn State scandal"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141214042050/http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/11/17/south-park-penn-state-scandal/ |date=December 14, 2014 }}. ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''. November 17, 2011</ref>

The first explanation given for Kenny's deaths and reappearances was given in the 53rd episode "[[Cartman Joins NAMBLA]]", wherein the McCormicks have a baby exactly like Kenny, including the characteristic orange parka, shortly after the former Kenny dies. Mr. McCormick exclaims, "God, this must be the fiftieth time this has happened", to which Mrs. McCormick quickly replies, "Fifty-second". This explanation is expanded upon in the season 14 episodes "[[Coon 2: Hindsight]]", "[[Mysterion Rises]]" and "[[Coon vs. Coon and Friends]]", in which Kenny, while playing superheroes with his friends, claims his "superpower" is [[immortality]]. He actually dies several times during these episodes—even committing suicide more than once—reawakening alive and unharmed in his bed each time. He is frustrated and angry that no one can remember him dying every time he regenerates and longs to know the source of his power, which he views as a curse. Unbeknownst to him, his parents were previously connected to a [[Cthulhu]]-worshipping death cult. After Kenny shoots himself the second time, Mrs. McCormick awakes with a scream, shrieks "It's happening again!", and minutes later, is shown gently placing a newborn Kenny in his bed. "We should never have gone to that stupid cult meeting," she grouses as she and her husband return to bed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a36403960/south-park-theory-cartman-kenny-deaths/|title=South Park theory solves show's longest-running mystery|date=May 12, 2021|website=DigitalSpy|access-date=March 10, 2022|archive-date=March 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310014727/https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a36403960/south-park-theory-cartman-kenny-deaths/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/10/05/ign-tvs-10-favorite-south-park-episodes|title=IGN TV's 10 Favorite South Park Episodes|first=Dan Iverson & Brian|last=Zoromski|date=4 October 2006|publisher=IGN|access-date=March 10, 2022|archive-date=March 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310012429/https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/10/05/ign-tvs-10-favorite-south-park-episodes|url-status=live}}</ref>

In "[[Put It Down (South Park)|Put It Down]]", he is killed off-screen by a driver on his phone, as his picture is shown among those of kids killed by a driver on phone texting tribute. In "[[Bike Parade]]", [[Jeff Bezos]] tells [[Amazon Alexa|Alexa]] to kill Kenny, and Cartman hauls his coffin while riding his bike in the parade. "[[The Pandemic Special]]" sees Kenny being gunned down by the police when they are equipped with military weaponry to deal with the children breaking free from [[COVID-19 pandemic|COVID-19 quarantine]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Schedeen|first=Jesse|date=December 12, 2018|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/12/13/south-park-season-22-episode-10-bike-parade-review|title=South Park Season 22 Finale: 'Bike Paade' Review|publisher=[[IGN]]|accessdate=December 14, 2018|archive-date=December 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213090220/https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/12/13/south-park-season-22-episode-10-bike-parade-review|url-status=live}}</ref>

In ''[[South Park: Post Covid]]'', as a millionaire scientist in the future finding the cause of [[COVID-19]], Kenny dies due to a time travel experiment that got him a variant named COVID Delta+ Rewards.<ref name=indiewire/> This death is undone in ''[[South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid]]'' after Stan, Kyle, and Cartman time travel to the past.<ref name="Hollywood">{{cite web |last1=Parker |first1=Ryan |title='South Park' Dropping 'Post COVID' Part II Movie Next Week |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/south-park-post-covid-part-2-movie-dec-16-1235059355/ |website=[[Hollywood Reporter]] |access-date=December 8, 2021 |date=December 8, 2021 |archive-date=December 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208211855/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/south-park-post-covid-part-2-movie-dec-16-1235059355/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In ''[[South Park: The End of Obesity]]'', Kenny was killed by [[Tony the Tiger]] in is his first on-screen death since "[[The Pandemic Special]]".{{ref needed|date=August 2024}}