The Troubles republican prisoners led to more than 500 of them in the Maze prison initiating the "blanket" and "dirty" protests. Their protests culminated in hunger strikes in 1980 and 1981, aimed at the restoration of political status, as well as other concessions. In the 1981 Irish hunger strike, ten republican prisoners (seven from the Provisional IRA and three from the INLA) died of starvation. The first hunger striker to die, Bobby Sands, was elected to Parliament on an Anti-H-Block ticket, as was his election agent Owen Carron following Sands' death. The hunger strikes resonated among many nationalists; over 100,000 people attended
The Hunger Strike Aaron McGruder on an introduction video for the episode found on the DVD set, this episode was originally set to be titled "BET Sucks". At the headquarters of BET, fictional president Debra Leevil (a parody of BET Holdings CEO Debra L. Lee with a personality resembling Dr. Evil from the "Austin Powers" films) presides over a board meeting to discuss the network's strategy for destroying black people. The issue of Huey Freeman is brought up, as he is shown on CNN giving a press conference stating that he is on a hunger strike and that he will not eat until