Tweek x Craig

Tweek x Craig is the sixth episode of Season Nineteen, and the 263rd overall episode of South Park. It was aired on October 28, 2015. The episode is worthy of special coverage here as it heavily referenced the South Park fandom, particularly Yaoi and the Creek pairing, which had been popular for many years in the fandom up to this point, leading to the Craig and Tweek becoming a canonical relationship within the South Park universe. 
Additionally, South Park Studios actively solicited fan art for inclusion in the final episode, including work by a number of an artists, as detailed below.
For more information, read more about this episode at the South Park Archives.
==Fan Involvement==
Sometime before the episode was produced, Jason Schroeder, producer for the video game South Park: The Fractured But Whole introduced Matt Stone and Trey Parker to fan art he had found online depicting Craig and Tweek in a romantic relationship, which served as the inspiration for the subsequent development of the episode.
The day before the episode was formally announced, South Park Studios asked fans to submit their Yaoi fan art to the official website for inclusion in the show, setting off speculation over the then-unannounced upcoming episode. The request asked specifically for Tweek and Craig art only.
The episode description was released on Monday, prompting the Pre-Air Discussion Thread on the message board to become one of the most active in the board's later history. The description mentioned Mr. Mackey was supposed to hunt down whoever started the rumor. This scene/plot was not included in the final episode, and Mackey only appears briefly behind PC Principal in a cameo role, however. An animatic of one of these scenes was released on Instagram by Trey's wife, Boogie, some time later.
Matt and Trey solicited real Yaoi art from South Park fans the week before the episode aired, which was in turn processed by the administrators of South Park Studios here (over 1,500 pieces of art!) and finally contained in the episode itself, along with a 'thank you' to all of the fans who contributed.
In messages posted the week the episode came out, Nall, the webmaster at South Park Studios commented "By the way, getting a call from your boss that they “need yaoi fan art of Tweek and Craig asap” is a really, really bizarre experience.". He later added in the Post-Air discussion thread:
“By the way, thank you to all who submitted artwork. I know there wasn’t much time in which to do it, and there were some really beautiful, fantastic submissions. (And also a few pieces that made feel like a little like Butters last week as I sorted through them.)”
Below are some links to the artwork included in the final episode, though not all of the links remain online:
*"Creek Kiss" by xChibiDragonx is the very first image shown during Wendy's presentation, and reappears at the Art Fair.
*This piece by Dogpu appears at the Art Fair (6:12)
*"Craig x Tweek" by blindingmyheart appears at the Art Fair (6:12)
*junkoandthediamonds' piece can be seen for sale at the Art Fair (6:17) (Artist Response)
*This piece by BeansOfYuki is one of the pieces Mayor McDaniels views in her office. (6:24)
*Earily is the only artist so far confirmed to have multiple pieces in the show, with THREE pieces of art! 
**This piece appears at the Art Fair first (6:12)
**This piece is at the Art Fair (6:17)
**this piece appears in Mayor McDaniels' office (6:22)
All timestamps begin after disclaimer and opening credits.
*Junkoandthediamonds' art piece is a reference to the 1988 film Heathers.
===Staff Artists===
The South Park storyboard team also created a lot of the art used in the episode, particularly the second half after Tweek and Craig's messy public break-up. They also filmed the cosplay video for the show!
==Fan Reception==
The Post-Air discussion thread for the episode is still online and showcases some piece of the initial fan reception to the episode. Though some fans insisted the relationship was not canon, the show's social media team teased fans that it was legitimate.
Category:South Park episodes
Category:Fanfiction involving Creek