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| Jerome "Chef" McElroy | |
|---|---|
| Gender: | Male |
| Hair: | Black |
| Age: | Early 40s (partially deceased) |
| Job: | Cafeteria worker at "South Park Elementary" |
| Religion: | Temporarly Islam in Chef Goes Nanners |
| First appearance: | "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" |
| Last appearance: | "(As Normal Chef)The Return of Chef!" |
| Voiced by: | Isaac Hayes Peter Serafinowicz ("Darth Chef") |
Jerome "Chef" McElroy was a recurring character on the Comedy Central series South Park. He was voiced by Isaac Hayes. The character was killed off in 2006, following controversy with Hayes, who left the show.
About Chef
Chef, as his nickname implies, was a school
cafeteria cook at the South Park Elementary School.
He was usually the only adult that the main characters on the show (Stan Marsh,
- Chef: Hello there, children!
- Kids (in unison): Hey, Chef.
- Chef: How's it going?
- One or all of kids: Bad.
- Chef: Why bad?
- ...
One of the children then explained to him their problem. Chef used the word "children" often, even for the singular (for example, he referred to Eric Cartman as "children" in "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut" and "Spontaneous Combustion", Stan Marsh as "children" in "Kenny Dies", and Butters Stotch as "children" in "Simpsons Already Did It"). He also tended to use "fudge" as a euphemism for fuck, particularly in early episodes.
While most of the inhabitants of South Park are white, Chef was one of the very few residents in town who was black; in fact the only other black people to consistently live in South Park are Token and his parents, who are not prominent characters until the fourth season. As a result, Chef (usually goodnaturedly, though not always) referred to most people in town with the racial slur "crackas," including the children.
Aside from cooking, Chef was passionate about singing - he wrote the song "Stinky Britches" which was later covered by Alanis Morissette - and "making sweet love down by the fire". He was based on such 1970s African-American singers as Isaac Hayes (who voiced him) and Barry White. Often, he agreed to give the boys advice in the form of songs, but wound up singing about having sex. Over time, however, like many earlier characters on the show, his role, especially as as a singer, diminished, and in later seasons he did not sing much even when he did appear.
Despite his preoccupations with women and sex, Chef was generally one of the few level-headed adults in South Park. In addition to dispensing advice to "the children", Chef spoke out against outrageous ideas, and helped save South Park/the world in general from several disasters. However, Chef was not above performing nonsensical acts, such as buying a fancy TV that he couldn't even program (and that eventually turned into a combat robot).
In earlier seasons, Chef was often approached by the children when they were unfamiliar with a sexual term or practice. This happened so often that it got on Chef's nerves, several times he would say things like "Goddammit, children, why do I always have to be the one to teach you these things?", but go on to explain to them whatever they wanted to know anyway.
Chef’s last name suggests he could be at least partially of some Celtic descent, and indeed his parents live in Edinburgh, Scotland (see 'Parents' below).
In the episode "Chef Goes Nanners" he briefly converted to Islam and adopted the name Abdul Mohammed Jabar Rauf Kareem Ali, converting back to Christianity by the end of the episode.
In the episode "The Return of Chef" he died after joining the Super Adventure Club, but was later resurrected in that same episode as Darth Chef. Even so, "Darth Chef" has not re-appeared since.
Parents
Chef's parents first appeared in the episode; "The Succubus", when they came over from Scotland for Chef's wedding. They told the boys of their many alleged encounters with the Loch Ness Monster, and his attempts to swindle $3.50 ("tree-fiddy") out of them by dressing up as a Girl Guide and an alien, and even using young Chef by posing as his imaginary friend.
Chef's folks also made another appearance in "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", where they tried to save Cartman's 'time' by extracting Kenny's soul from inside him. Chef's mother also offered "tree-fiddy" to Kenny to go out the window in case the soul got on the curtains or into the pot roast (which Kenny ended up getting trapped in), to which his father replied "Now don't go offerin' the soul no tree-fiddy, woman!"
The two were not seen amongst those who attended their son's funeral.
Hayes quits South Park
On March 13, 2006, Isaac Hayes was reported to have quit South Park over objections to the show's attitudes toward and depiction of various religions, claiming that the show had crossed the line from satire into intolerance. Despite the content of the official press release, however, there remains considerable speculation about the motivations behind his departure. Parker and Stone assert that he quit due to the controversial episode "Trapped in the Closet", and its treatment of Scientology, as Hayes is a member of the cult. Series co-creator and writer Matt Stone commented in a manner that suggested that Hayes practiced a double standard regarding the treatment of religion on South Park: "[We] never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin." [1] Others have suggested that Hayes left the show because of the external pressure forced by his fellow Scientologists and that the decision was not voluntary. It was eventually reported, however, that Hayes did not quit the show, but that the original press release announcing his departure was put out by someone who was not authorized to represent him. As recently as January 4, 2006, Hayes defended South Park's style of controversial humor to The Onion's AV Club and XM's Opie and Anthony Show, going so far as to note that although he was not pleased with the show's depiction of Scientology, he "understand[s] what [Matt and Trey] are doing." It has also been reported that Hayes suffered a stroke in the middle of January 2006 and may not be in a position to make major decisions for himself. The author or authors of the original press release remain unclear. [2][3] [4][5]
Death
The fate of the Chef character was revealed in the Season 10 premiere, in which voice clips taken from previous episodes were linked together to form new dialogue to support the plot of "The Return of Chef". In the episode, Chef was brainwashed into becoming a child molester by the "Super Adventure Club", an organization which combines outdoors activities with bizarre religious beliefs (some of which seem akin to those held by the real-life Church of Scientology) and pedophilia.
At the end of the episode, Chef was burned, battered, impaled, shot, his face (including one eyeball) pulled off and limbs torn apart by a grizzly bear and a mountain lion (mountain lions in particular have previously served in South Park as agents of purification, most notably in the episode "Woodland Critter Christmas"), and he finally defecates as he dies.
The town held a moving memorial service for him, in which Kyle gave a eulogy stating, "We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving us, we should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains" - a not-so-subtle jab at Hayes and Scientology.
Darth Chef
Chef's body was secretly recovered by the Super Adventure Club, who managed to revive him as a "Darth" Chef, mimicking the ending to Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. He was revived by Super Adventure Club in a Darth Vader-like suit (albeit with a helmet similar to a chef's hat) and was given a red spatula lightsaber. After that, the Super Adventure Club leader began the scene, which parodies Revenge of the Sith:
- Leader: Chef, can you hear me? Say something!
- Darth Chef (With a respirator-assisted Vader-like breathing): Hello there, children. How would you like some salisbury steak?
- Leader: Yes, go on!
- Darth Chef: And for dessert, how would you children like to suck on my chocolate salty balls?
- Leader (mimicking children voice): Oh, you mean like a chocolate candy?
- Darth Chef: No, I mean MY BALLS!
The leader (as a parody of the Chancellor Palpatine) was very happy about Darth Chef's reply and responds with an evil laugh.
Darth Chef's voice was provided by Peter Serafinowicz, who voiced Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, leaving the possibility open for Darth Chef to be a recurring character without Hayes' further involvement.[citation needed] However, he has not reappeared yet, so while it is still a possibility, it is likely Darth Chef was merely meant as a joke. Darth Chef does, however, appear along with many other characters in the background of the South Park opening sequence. He also appears in the online game "South Park Asskicker", though he only turns into Darth Chef in a special fighting move.
It should be noted the name "Darth Chef" has been generally accepted by fans, but is never actually mentioned on the show (it is, however, mentioned on the official website).
Notes
- In the episode "Die Hippie, Die", Chef was the head of Public Safety Department. After his death, he was replaced by Glenn in the episode "Night of the Living Homeless" Who was also killed.
- A side-view drawing of Chef was not available until season 7. Chef always walked sideways, facing the camera, from seasons 1 to 6. A notable instance of this was in "Red Hot Catholic Love".
See also
External links
| South Park characters | |
|---|---|
| Main characters (The Boys): | Stan Marsh ·
|
| Other major characters: | Butters Stotch · Chef · |
| Family members: | Gerald and Sheila Broflovski · Grampa Marsh · Ike Broflovski · Jimbo Kern · Stuart and Carol McCormick · Liane Cartman · Randy and Sharon Marsh · Shelley Marsh · Stephen and Linda Stotch |
| Recurring characters: | Jesus · Saddam Hussein · Satan · Terrance and Phillip |
| Others: | School children · Townsfolk · School staff · Families · Minor characters · Fictional races |
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