Turkey Trot/Trivia

General

Trivia

Images

Script

Extras

"Sora Not Sorry/Trivia"

"Turkey Trot/Trivia"

"The Crap Out/Trivia"

This page contains trivia for "Turkey Trot". Remember, trivia must be factual, provable, and it is always best to cite your source for not-so-obvious trivia. If you would like to dispute a trivia point, please discuss it in the talk page.

Trivia

• A part of the theme played during the Turkey Trot was used as a preliminary battle theme within certain betas of South Park: The Stick of Truth.
  • Similarly, the victory theme after Tolkien crosses the finish line was used in beta versions as combat victory theme.
• The title as well as the topic of the episode are references to a Turkey Trot, a type of long distance footrace that takes place in multiple cities across the United States on or near Thanksgiving, with participants typically wearing Thanksgiving themed outfits. It is considered the most popular and longest running footrace in the United States, dating back to 1896.
• The aircraft which Pete Hegseth takes a selfie in is an F-16 Fighting Falcon operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The aircraft bears the tail code of "MO" which corresponds to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, despite the base no longer playing host to USAF F-16 aircraft since 2007.
• List of stock videos that make up the Turkey Trot commercial:
  • A girl holding a "I'm Thankful" sign during Thanksgiving dinner.
  • Four adults toasting with coffee cups.
  • Video of an apple pie.
  • Footage of Turkey Trots held in Oakland and Long Beach, California.
  • Front view of runners in other race events.
  • Multiple cultural performances across the Arab world.
  • Two kids dressed in Thanksgiving headdress and drinking milk.
  • Multiple videos of Thanksgiving dinner tables.
  • Multiple videos of raining money.
• Tolkien choosing not to participate in the Turkey Trot due to Saudi Arabia's involvement while Cartman tries to defend the country is a reference to the controversy over the Riyadh Comedy Festival that took place in Saudi Arabia in September 2025. Several comedians who were originally invited turned it down and publicly denounced the event, citing the country's notoriety for violating human rights. While some comedians have since defended their decision to perform at the festival , a few others later admitted that they regretted their decision to attend and/or offered to donate their payout to various charities.
  • During Cartman's attempt to convince Tolkien to join the group for the race, he mentions comedians Kevin Hart and Pete Davidson, both of whom performed at the comedy festival.
  • In the trailer for the Turkey Trot, it mentions that disparaging remarks towards the Saudi royal family is prohibited, which is likely a reference to the festival restricting comedians from making remarks about the country, the royal family and any religion during their set.
• During Cartman's attempt to convince Tolkien to join the race, he mentions that if the Saudis are busy paying for sporting events, then they won't be hacking up reporters. Then, during the race, he tells Tolkien that the Saudis are stuffing reporters into suitcases. Both lines are in reference to Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was hacked to death while in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. His body parts were then transported in multiple suitcases to the consul-general’s residence and dissolved in acid.
• While being interviewed at the Turkey Trot, Cartman says " a lot of people these days want to debunk science. You know, vaccine’s cause autism. Jet fuel leaves chemtrails. But when it comes to racing science, it’s science.", which are refences to:
  • The theory that childhood vaccines can lead to autism, which stemmed from a since debunked research study in 1998. The theory has grown in popularity due to a significant increase in reported cases of autism in recent years, as well as reported side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine, which has made people more hesitant about vaccinating themselves and their children. The topic was previously referenced in the episode, "Shots" .
  • The Chemtrail conspiracy theory, which is the belief that condensation trails left in the sky by high-flying aircrafts are actually chemicals being used for nefarious reasons, such as to reduce the human population or to manipulate weather patterns.
  • Scientific racism, another name for "race science", which is the idea that human beings can be divided up by race and that each race has certain traits that others may not or may engage in certain activities more so than others. It has been criticized by liberals who believe that race is a social construct and that race science is being used by the far-right to justify racism and perpetuate negative stereotypes.

References to Popular Culture

• Tolkien plays ARC Raiders, an extraction shooter that released one month before this episode's premiere, on his Xbox.
• The song about Pete Hegseth near the end parodies "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins.
• Pete Hegseth's line "I'm here to kick bubblegum and chew ass! And I'm all out of ass!" is a reference to the 1988 film, They Live.
• Pete Hegseth's outfit including his helmet, selfie stick, and military ribbons are modeled after George S. Patton's outfit in the opening scene of the 1970 film, Patton.

Continuity

• This is the first Thanksgiving episode since season 15's "A History Channel Thanksgiving".
• Mr. Mackey takes a new job as a cleaner at the South Park Chamber of Commerce, after losing his role as a school counselor in "Got A Nut".
  • This is also reminiscent from the episode "Ike's Wee Wee" where he got fired from his job and Principal Victoria suggested that they might give him a job as a janitor after the marijuana issue has been blown over.
• Kristi Noem shoots a dog during the Turkey Trot, a continuation of her gag from "Got A Nut".
• When Cartman visits Credigree Weed, Tegridy Farms is seen in the background, still up for sale since "Sickofancy".
• Tuong Lu Kim complains about having to pay tariffs at the City Council meeting, calling back to "Wok is Dead".
• Ned Gerblanski is seen signing up for the Turkey Trot with injuries, which he had sustained after being attacked by ManBearPig in "Time To Get Cereal". Previously, he was shown to have completely recovered from his injuries in episodes as recent as "Sermon on the 'Mount", and even the game South Park: Snow Day!, in which he had a speaking role. Though it should be noted that he was also shown to be wheel chair-bound in South Park: Post Covid, which takes place in the future, meaning that his non-injured appearances were likely mistakes.
• Peter Thiel is confined to a holding cell at the police station, following his arrest in "Sora Not Sorry".
• This is the first episode not to feature Satan since "Spring Break".

Goofs

• Mayor McDaniels' deceased aide Ted is seen with her and Johnson when they are waiting at the finish line.
• List of duplicate running bib numbers at the Turkey Trot:
  • Cartman and a man with yellow shirt, teal shorts and red scarf share the same number of "129".
  • Mr. Garrison and a woman with pink jacket and purple pants share the same number of "858".
  • Timmy and a woman with white shirt, black pants and a turkey headdress share the same number of "72".
• As soon as the race starts and we see the crowd running toward the camera, Tweek does not run, he just freezes in the air and moves forward.
  • This happens again when they pass over the bridge and Tweek is still frozen but is moving forward with the crowd.
• Cartman's Turkey hat switches between two different designs during the scene where he visits Tolkien at Credigree Weed. The first design has a brown brim and no wattle, and is used throughout most of the episode. The second has a yellow brim and a yellow wattle.
• Tolkien seems to be using an Xbox 360 to play Arc Raiders, despite the game only being playable on PC and current generation consoles.
• Two different Kenny McCormicks appear in the crowd when Mayor McDaniels thanks Saudi Arabia; one next to Stan, and another near his parents.

Dubbing Changes

International Titles

Language	Title	Translation/Remarks
French	La Course de dindon	The Turkey Race
German	Truthahn-Rennen	Turkey Race
Hungarian	Pulykavágta	Turkey Gallop
Italian	Corsa del Ringraziamento	Thanksgiving Run
Polish	Bieg Indyka	Turkey Run
Portuguese (Brazil)	Corrida do peru	Turkey Race
Spanish (Latin America)	Carrera del pavo	Turkey Trot