There’s a war going on over at Paramount. As the network seemingly folds under pressure to the demands of Donald Trump's administration, Paramount's very own shows are pushing back. On Wednesday night, South Park's season 27 premiere criticised everything going on at the network, including settling its lawsuit with the president, eliminating DEI initiatives, and cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The latest barrage against Paramount arrives less than a day after the network inked a reported USD1.5 billion deal to become the exclusive streaming home for South Park for the foreseeable future. In a characteristically bold move, series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone still took aim at the network by making Paramount and Trump both the butt—and tiny penis—of the joke in the season 27 premiere.
In the opening episode, Trump sues the town of South Park over an issue with religion in schools. Trump is depicted with an actual photo of the president—instead of the show’s usual, cartoonish characters—as Jesus himself urges the parents of South Park to settle with the president instead of fighting him in court.
“You guys saw what happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount,” Jesus tells the town as he directly names the network. “You really want to end up like Colbert? You guys got to stop being stupid. He has the power to sue and take bribes, and he can do anything to anyone."
Elsewhere in the episode, Trump is shown in bed with Satan—who remarks that he can’t see the president’s genitalia because “it’s so small.” The devil also alludes to Trump’s name being on the “Epstein list” and later shows an AI-created video of the president wandering around the desert naked. After Trump cancels Cartman’s favourite NPR show, the South Park character remarks, “The government can’t cancel the show. I mean, what show are they going to cancel next?”
Paramount has yet to comment on South Park’s latest premiere, but again, the episode arrives less than 24 hours after the series confirmed its new USD1.5 billion deal to continue South Park for another 50 episodes on Paramount+.
Though we haven’t heard from Trump himself yet, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers released a statement to Rolling Stone on Thursday calling the episode “fourth-rate.”
“The Left’s hypocrisy truly has no end—for years they have come after South Park for what they labelled as ‘offense’ [sic] content, but suddenly they are praising the show,” Rogers stated. “Just like the creators of South Park, the Left has no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows. This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention. President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country’s history—and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak.”
After the season 27 premiere, let’s see if those other 49 episodes ever make it to air.
