'Ringer' of Truth

Image credit: Ricky Blitt: Jaimie Trueblood/WireImage.com

But Blitt doubts two distinct parties could come up with such a unique idea. And when the screenwriter first saw the South Park Special Olympics episode, titled ''Up the Down Steroid'' (which first aired on March 24, 2004), he says he was sick to his stomach. ''I started watching it but I had to turn it off,'' says Blitt. ''I thought, 'How could they do this?' As writers, all we have are our ideas. They started off as these edgy guys and now they've gone to the other extreme of being these mainstream guys who are stealing stuff.''

But Stone swats away those charges, saying that he and his partner have been trafficking in material dealing with mental disabilities for years, citing their involvement as executive producers for the 1999 documentary about mentally and physically disabled reporters How's Your News? ''It's a part of comedy that we have been...well, obsessed with is too strong a word, but not by much, for years.'' Plus, Stone adds, ''I think the idea of pretending to be handicapped to get out of something is not that unique an idea.''

So let's get this straight. To prove his innocence, Stone is basically saying he and Parker aren't very original?

''Yeah!'' laughs Stone.

As proof, Stone points to a South Park storyline he and Parker once brainstormed where Cartman plans to block out the sun over Kyle and Stan's part of town, only to be told that the same exact thing had been done on The Simpsons. Another time, they were going to have Randy pulled over by a cop for DUI and forced to drink a beer can full of his own urine, but were informed the Farrellys (oh, sweet irony!) used a similar gag in Dumb and Dumber. ''We've had to ditch tons of ideas because somebody already did them,'' says Stone. ''When you sit around and talk about this stuff you end up at the same places.''

Blitt says that's baloney. ''Maybe they're so busy and years go by and they forget it, I'll give them any out they want, but it was pitched and that's 100 percent fact.'' Blitt says he isn't trying to shake down Stone and Parker for money, nor is he planning to take legal action. He only wants to set the record straight so that when The Ringer comes out, critics and moviegoers won't jump to the same conclusion he found posted on Rotten Tomatoes: that his movie is a South Park knockoff. ''All I want is what's right,'' he says. ''It's an ego thing. I don't want to be known as the hack that ripped these guys off.''

As for the South Park boys? Stone shrugs, ''I don't have a problem with him letting people know that he didn't rip it off. But just don't accuse us the other way.''