"An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig" was written by show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and Dan Sterling. It first aired on September 10, 1997, in the United States on Comedy Central. Parker and Stone intended to call this episode "An Elephant Fucks a Pig", but changed the title under pressure from Comedy Central. The network also made them cut a scene in which Shelley sets Stan on fire, to keep the show from coming under the same controversy for showing dangerous acts that can easily be imitated as MTV's "Beavis and Butt-Head" and later, MTV's "Jackass". It was during the writing of this episode that Parker and Stone decided Kyle would be the good student and "school-smarter than the other kids".