Token’s Real Name is Revealed and Corrected in South Park
South Park season 25 episode 2, “The Big Fix,” updates over 20-year-old South Park legend while also satirising its own prior screw ups. South Park season 25 is now showing that the animated sitcom has never shied away from political satire in the old days.
Token Black who is a long-running character on the show, has been known as Tolkien Black the entire time according to South Park Season 25.
The change in responsibility recognizes South Park’s previous faults in an unusual yet humorous way while they are also admitting that the series is aware that the decision was troublesome and bringing the show into the current.
Randy Marsh calls Stan’s buddy Token with his family over for dinner in order to diversify his cannabis market. Over dinner at his place, it is disclosed that Token’s real name is Tolkien, after J.R.R. Tolkien who is the author of The Lord of the Rings franchise.
Token Black’s name was a play on the stereotype of the “token Black” character, a character who is generally featured as a kind of symbolic variety, as he’s the only Black youngster in the township of South Park when he was debuted in South Park season 2.
Now after over two decades, South Park season 25 reverses the joke by pretending his name was Token. Stan’s pediatrician stares into to the cam and asks to ask if “anyone else” had “really thought a pair of Black folks had a kid and named him Token,” as “The Big Fix” breaches the fourth wall to bring the joke home.
Rather than double down on previous mistakes, the episode satirizes the issue of staged association by laughing at itself in such a manner only South Park can.
Randy simply serves to commodify his fresh company partner, seeking to convert Steve Black as Tegridy Farm’s “token Black guy.” While Stan and Tolkien eventually come to an agreement towards to the end bits of the episode where Randy and Steve were getting ready for the fight.
Stan’s attempts to help Tolkien was ended up being much more relieving about his inner sorrow than almost anything else and he ends up the bit by removing Tolkien entirely from the discussion.
Now the topic has been closed now because the makers correct the name and announced it in the latest episode. But still it is a matter of debate on social media.
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