Season five of South Park, an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, began airing on June 20, 2001. The fifth season concluded after 14 episodes on December 12, 2001. When a crime drama on TV airs an episode using the curse word shit uncensored, the town popularizes the word, which causes people to die from the plague and the boys, with assistance from Chef, attempts to break the chanting chatter of the word.