Chewbacca Defense

The term Chewbacca Defense originated in the animated series South Park. The show satirized attorney Johnnie Cochran's closing argument defending O.J. Simpson in his murder trial. "Chewbacca Defense", meaning a defense consisting solely of non-sensical arguments meant to confuse a jury, has been applied outside of references to South Park and has been integrated into popular culture slang.

Origin

The term Chewbacca Defense was first used in the South Park episode "Chef Aid", which premiered on October 7, 1998 as the fourteenth episode of the second season.

In the episode, Chef discovers that Alanis Morissette's (fictional) hit song "Stinky Britches" is the same as a song he wrote years ago, before he abandoned his musical aspirations. Chef contacts a "major record company" executive, seeking only to have his name credited as the composer of "Stinky Britches." Chef's claim is substantiated by a twenty-year-old recording of Chef performing the song.

The record company refuses, and furthermore hires Johnnie Cochran, who files a lawsuit against Chef for harassment.

In court, Cochran resorts to his "famous" Chewbacca Defense, which he "used during the Simpson trial", according to Gerald Broflovski. Aside from reading a portion of his defense below, you can also listen to it here.

Cochran: Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, Chef's attorney would certainly want you to believe that his client wrote "Stinky Britches" ten years ago. And they make a good case. Hell, I almost felt pity myself! But, ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense!
Gerald Broflovski: Dammit!
Chef: What?
Gerald: He's using the Chewbacca Defense!
Cochran: Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with this case? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case! It does not make sense! Look at me. I'm a lawyer defending a major record company, and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you're in that jury room deliberatin' and conjugatin' the Emancipation Proclamation, and softens does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests.

Cochran's use of this defense (which is ironic, since he represents the plaintiff) is so successful that the jury finds Chef guilty of "harassing a major record label" and sets his punishment as either a two million dollar fine to be paid within twenty-four hours or, failing that, four years in prison.

Ultimately a "Chef Aid" benefit concert is organized to raise money for Chef to hire Johnnie Cochran for his own lawsuit against the record company. The concert (a parody of Live Aid) features his old showbiz friends—Elton John, Meat Loaf, Ozzy Osbourne (who kills Kenny by biting his head off), Rancid, Joe Strummer, Ween, and others (the real-life artists recorded songs for the episode and accompanying album). At the concert Johnnie Cochran experiences a change of heart (à la How The Grinch Stole Christmas) and offers to represent Chef pro bono. He again successfully uses the Chewbacca Defense, this time to defeat the record company and make them acknowledge Chef's authorship of their song. In the second use of the Chewbacca Defense, he ends by suddenly producing a monkey and shouting "Here, look at the monkey. Look at the silly monkey!" causing a juror's head to explode.

Errors in the argument

Errors of fact about Star Wars

Chewbacca does not in fact actually live on Endor — though early drafts of Return of the Jedi did have the forest moon of Endor populated by Wookiees rather than Ewoks. This claim is a reference to an argument between Cartman and Kyle in the episode "Pink Eye". Parker and Stone have included numerous Star Wars references in South Park episodes, and are aware that the Wookiee homeworld is named Kashyyyk, despite—at the time the episode was made—the name having only ever been given in Star Wars books and games and the Star Wars Holiday Special (whose status in canon remains doubtful), not the movies. Kashyyyk was subsequently shown as the Wookiee homeworld in Revenge of the Sith. It also appears in the video games Galaxies, Galactic Battlegrounds, Battlefront, Battlefront II, Republic Commando, The Clone Wars, Empire at War, Knights of the Old Republic (SW: KotOR) and Knights of the Old Republic 2.

Errors of law

Cochran calls for an acquittal, when such a result is impossible in a civil case (where there can only be a finding of liability or no liability). In any event, he is initially representing the plaintiff record company, and is therefore seeking to persuade the jury to find Chef liable—the civil equivalent of a conviction, and not an acquittal. This legal inaccuracy was likely a sacrifice in the interest of clarifying the reference to Cochran's famous "if the glove does not fit, you must acquit," line during the O.J. Simpson murder case.

Furthermore, Cochran is introducing facts not in evidence in a closing argument, which is generally prohibited. An attorney may only refer to facts that have been adduced in the record through testimony or other introduction of evidence, unless those facts are matters of common knowledge (e.g., "the sky is blue"). It is doubtful that a court would consider the name of Chewbacca's home planet to be common knowledge. Such an argument would therefore spur an objection, and be disallowed. Of course, the argument would also properly be contested on relevance grounds.

Finally, aside from the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation is not a verb, and cannot be conjugated, the jury would have no reason whatsoever to consider this document. Normally, the parties will agree in advance as to what law applies, and the judge will instruct the jury of this law.

Of course, the fact that Cochran's arguments have absolutely no basis in law whatsoever is the whole point. It could just as easily be noted, for example, that a court can not impose a prison sentence in a civil case, apart from finding a party guilty of contempt or perjury.

Usage

The term Chewbacca Defense is used on many weblogs and Internet discussion forums, especially ones that often feature legal issues. It is used to refer to any legal strategy or propaganda strategy that seeks to overwhelm its audience with nonsensical arguments, as a way of confusing the audience and drowning out legitimate opposing arguments. It is thus a kind of logical fallacy: specifically, a red herring fallacy and non sequitur similar to argumentum ad hominem.

Within the realm of the Internet, the Chewbacca Defense has been applied to political subjects, especially concerning public figures attempting to distract or confuse the public through the media. For example, commentators have accused the United States Department of Justice and Randy Cunningham [http://triptronix.net/ishbadiddle/archives/2005/06/14/15.00.55/ of putting forward Chewbacca Defenses, of one form or another.

External links

Video of the Chewbacca Defense
Audio recording of the Chewbacca Defense - southparkstudios.com

Criminal defenses | English phrases | South Park | Star Wars fandom

Chewbacca-Verteidigung | Defensa Chewbacca | Défense à la Chewbacca | Chewbacca vörnin | Chewbacca-puolustus