Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the notorious minds behind South Park, are known for pushing the envelope in any way possible.
Their appearance at the 72nd Academy Awards in 2000 was no different.
To set the scene, it was the golden age of Y2K, and Blame Canada from their 1999 film, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, was up for Best Original Song.
However, while Parker had said the nomination was “a really big validation of South Park,” Stone noted that they wanted to find a way to “go, but not go” to the ceremony.
“We were so, like, punk-rock — you know, like, against all of that stuff,” Stone told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016.
The answer? Turn on, tune in, and drop out of the Academy Awards, obviously.
So, Stone and Parker ate sugar cubes doused with LSD that a friend had given them right before the show.
Then came the fun part, with the pair exiting the limousine in beautiful custom-made-gowns that had caused waves at previous award ceremonies – complete with headbands, and speed-dealer sunnies.
Parker wore a refined version of Jennifer Lopez’s infamous Versace dress that she’d previously worn at the 2000 Grammys.
Stone also looked ravishing in a pink gown, inspired by the Ralph Lauren piece worn by none other than Gwyneth Paltrow at the Oscars in 1999.
The writers definitely stole some spotlight with their 1999 Oscars and 2000 Oscars inspired looks since these outfits are now much more commonly known as the Matt Stone Trey Parker dresses iconically.
Gaze upon their psychedelic beauty below:
The pair also stayed on a strict script in case things got too… tricky. If anyone asked about their gowns, their sunnies, or why they were even there in the first place, the response would simply be: “Well, it’s just such a magical night.”
Never forget when Trey Parker & Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, wore these to the Oscars while tripping on acid. pic.twitter.com/e5Aj4tVERl
— Natty 💜🐍 (111%) (@nataliairl) November 27, 2019
Despite inevitably losing to Phil Collins’ You’ll Be In My Heart, for Tarzan, it’s a moment that’s gone down in Academy Awards, and pop culture history.
“Some people were stoked when we showed up at the Oscars in those dresses. Michael Caine being one,” Stone said.
“But I remember Gloria Estefan was super-pissed.”
Although the famous Matt Stone and Trey Parker Oscars moment mainly revolved around their use of recreational drugs and not an actual award, the South Park writers did win themselves their first Emmy in 2005 for Outstanding Animated Programme. The South Park Emmy nominations have not been few and far between either with the show racking up a whopping 18 noms and 4 wins in total. So overall, no South Park Phil Collins drama here!
How did the South Park creators meet?
If you’ve ever wondered who made South Park it was these two legends. The fellas who created South Park in 1997 first crossed paths in a film class at the University of Colorado in 1992.
The makers of South Park Trey and Matt hit it off immediately in class, doing funny voices to amuse each other.
Even though Matt Stone was originally a maths major and Trey Parker was a music major (that makes sense of all the musical numbers) the pair clearly had impeccable comedic chemistry and luckily for the rest of the world, they chose to explore that through Trey Parker Matt Stone movies ideas.
At the time of meeting, Trey Parker was already working on a film called Giant Beavers which was apparently “sort of a Godzilla thing, but with a huge beaver.” Parker told Rolling Stone in 1998.
Soon enough, the guys had gotten so close and come up with a better idea.
Trey and Matt got a bit of construction paper, scissors, glue and a handy cam and put together a four-minute short film called The Spirit of Christmas.
The short featured four poorly animated, foul-mouthed kids trying to bring a snowman to life to fight Jesus… It was the perfect precursor of what was to come.
The next big project the pair worked on was a feature film in 1995 named Cannibal! The Musical, which garnered the boys a little more attention.
As Trey Parker and Matt Stone had caught the eye of Fox exec Brian Graden, they received a $2,000 investment to redo The Spirit of Christmas and soon after it was shown to the best in the biz, the boys were making their way to Hollywood to create one of the best-animated tv shows of all time.
Long live the South Park makers and their iconic work. And side note, have you heard the rumours that one of Matt Stone kids even voiced a South Park character at some point? Fucking wild!
