"Kenny Dies" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of the animated television series South Park, and the 78th episode of the series overall. "Kenny Dies" originally aired in the United States on December 5, 2001 on Comedy Central. In the episode, Cartman comes across a truckload of fetuses that he can't sell thanks to a recent government ruling on stem cell research. When Kenny is diagnosed with a terminal illness, Cartman uses it to lobby Congress to restore stem cell research.
The episode was written by series co-creator Trey Parker and is rated TV-MA in the United States. Notably, the gag of Kenny dying in almost every episode was dropped after this episode, and he did not reappear bodily until "Red Sleigh Down". This was the final appearance of the "4th Grade" title sequence which was first seen in "4th Grade". On the DVD commentary for the episode, Parker and Stone state that they had originally planned to kill Kyle off for a year, but decided to kill Kenny instead as they were running out of original ways to kill him.
Famous quotes containing the word dies:
“The chief want, in every State that I have been into, was a high and earnest purpose in its inhabitants. This alone draws out “the great resources” of Nature, and at last taxes her beyond her resources; for man naturally dies out of her.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)