Stan's father, Randy, even telling him outright that killing Cartman is "not right") and, as he attempts to explain why it is acceptable, Kyle goes into a speech (which he briefly breaks almost immediately to comment to Stan, "See? I knew it.") about people needing to take responsibility for their actions, and calls Reiner a fascist for imposing his will on others. Now deciding that he no longer respects Reiner, Cartman stabs him with a fork, revealing "Reiner" to be a boneless sac filled with green goo, who completely drains. The parents then ground the four, as they now know they smoked of their own will, and though Stan is relieved that the ordeal is over and the four have "learned [their] lesson", Kyle disappointedly replies, "No, we didn't, dude. No, we didn't." Production "Butt Out" was written and directed by Trey Parker. Matt Stone said the episode was inspired by a desire to spoof both California's strict smoking bans and film director Rob Reiner; Stone said, "We try not to be, 'All right, here's the point we want to make.' But things like California's smoking ban and Rob Reiner animate both of us. When we did that Rob Reiner episode, to us it was just common sense. Rob Reiner was just a great target." A television promo for the episode showed a deleted scene involving Butters interacting with the "Butt Out" group. Theme The episode satirizes anti-smoking education presentations by external providers that come across as cheesy or irritating to the young adult demographic they target, effectively negating any message they might be trying to send across. The episode also satirizes adult pretension, a common theme in South Park episodes, in their ineffective and nonsensical responses to the smoking problem in South Park. According to Brian C. Anderson, it also lampoons the pretentiousness of the Hollywood movie industry and liberalism, particularly through the use of Rob Reiner, the real-life American director widely known for advocating smoking restrictions. Reiner and, by extension, Hollywood adopts a holier-than-thou attitude with regard to smokers, and show a lack of understanding toward the poor and middle-class. The episode advocates accepting personal responsibility for smoking rather than blaming the tobacco industry or external forces like Hollywood and television (which are often accused of condoning and glamorizing drug use, particularly with alcohol and tobacco); as such, tobacco executives are portrayed as reasonable and decent, while Reiner