Trey Parker and Matt Stone revved things up for the return of ‘South Park’ this past Wednesday. The Season 27 premiere was nothing short of explosive, taking shots not only at the show’s parent company but also directed at President Donald Trump.
The first episode of the new season tackled themes of “wokeness” ending and featured a Trump-like character suing the locals of South Park for a whopping $5 billion over protests against Jesus making appearances in schools.
In a comical twist, the character portraying Jesus sheepishly admits, “I didn’t want to be back in schools, but here we are because it’s part of the lawsuit and an agreement with Paramount,” alluding to Comedy Central’s parent company and the ongoing discussions about its potential sale.
“You all saw the CBS situation? Yep, that’s Paramount behind it. You really want to end up like Colbert? Seriously, just stop being foolish,” Jesus hints, before drawing attention to the Trump figure, “That guy can sue and bribe his way through anything because he’s the president, man… Is South Park done for?”
Eventually, the town agrees to settle the score by producing pro-Trump PSAs.
The Trump character is portrayed in a rather sensitive light, acting like a bully who threatens anyone who disagrees with him. Not one to shy away from controversy, one particularly striking scene shows a picture of Trump aligning with a cartoon depicting him in a bedroom scenario with Satan.
“It’s funny how you keep saying everyone should just chill,” quips Satan to Trump in reference to the Epstein case.
Longgoing fans of ‘South Park’ might remember a similar depiction in 1999, where Saddam Hussein was shown in connection with Satan. In the recent episode, Satan even tells Trump, “You kind of remind me of someone I dated back in the day.”
A spokesperson from the White House, Taylor Rogers, dismissed the episode in a statement to CNN, asserting, “This show hasn’t had an impact for over two decades and is desperately clinging on with uninspired storylines,” defending Trump’s track record, “He’s made more promises than any other president in history in just six months, and no mediocre show can change that.”
On the next day, Parker gave a light-hearted response to the backlash during an event in San Diego, saying, “We’re terribly sorry,” before following it up with a dry, comic stare, as reported by the Associated Press.
Parker, alongside Stone, was responding during a panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
Just recently, both creators voiced their frustration regarding the potential acquisition of Paramount Global by Skydance Media and its implications for their contracts.
“This merger is a mess and it’s really messing with South Park,” they expressed in a post shared on Instagram. “We are busy working on fresh episodes and fingers crossed that fans get to see them.”
The launch of the new season this week came at the same time as news broke about a whopping $1.5 billion agreement for streaming all ‘South Park’ episodes on Paramount+, accompanied by an order for 50 additional episodes for Comedy Central.
A knowledgeable source confirmed the $1.5 billion valuation for the streaming deal with CNN.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Brian Stelter also contributed to this report.
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