“South Park” is bidding adieu to its short-lived but buzzy Season 27.
The sixth episode of the year, which airs Wednesday on Comedy Central, marks the first episode of Season 28, a spokesperson from the network confirmed to The Times. (The episode will stream on Paramount+ Thursday.)
The reason behind the decision to end Season 27, which was originally expected to have 10 episodes, is unclear. But fans of the long-running satire will still get four additional episodes this year, if “South Park” co-creator Matt Stone and Trey Parker stick to the schedule they outlined. Fans had been speculating about the start of a new season after seeing television listings that coded Wednesday’s episode as the first of Season 28.
The new episode, titled “Twisted Christian,” follows a possessed Cartman, who “may be the key to stopping the Antichrist,” according its brief description. A short teaser also shows the students of South Park Elementary engaging with the viral “67” slang, an essentially meaningless phrase that has taken over Generation Alpha.
The recent episodes have been drawing strong viewership and have, as always, poked fun at topical issues and political figures including President Trump, immigration raids, tariffs and the FCC. Even Paramount, which bought the global streaming rights to “South Park” this summer in a $1.5-billion deal, has been the butt of several jokes.
Season 27 had an unusual cadence of episodes, with the first two arriving on a weekly schedule, then biweekly before the arrival of the most recent episode (and the apparent finale of the season), which aired three weeks later on Sept. 25.
The second episode drew criticism for its parody of Charlie Kirk, the slain political influencer, despite the episode airing weeks before his death. Comedy Central, which is owned by Paramount, announced it will not air reruns of the second episode of the latest season after Kirk was fatally shot Sept. 10 in Utah. The episode can still be found on Paramount+.
The final episode of Season 27 was the first to air after Kirk’s death, but Parker and Stone told the Denver Post the delay was unrelated to its content: “No one pulled the episode, no one censored us, and you know we’d say so if true.” The pair issued a statement on Sept. 17 saying the episode wasn’t finished in time.
Future episodes of “South Park” will air every two weeks through Dec. 10.
Times TV editor Maira Garcia contributed to this report.
Every episode of “South Park” opens with a disclaimer: “All characters and events in this show — even those based on real people — are entirely fictional. All celebrity voices are impersonated … poorly. The following program contains coarse language and due to its content it should not be viewed by anyone.”
While some of that language must be required by an exhausted legal team behind the scenes, the long-running satirical cartoon is known for pressing hot-button topics and rapidly churning out searing parodies. Season 27, which premiered in July, is no exception, focusing on President Trump, his associates, policies and other current events. Some members of Trump’s cabinet have been outspoken about their likeness appearing in “South Park,” but others have shrugged it off. Over the years, the animated series has depicted conservatives and liberals alike, leaving almost no public figure, politician or activist shielded from critique or crude depiction.
This season has had an unusual cadence of episodes, with the first two arriving on a weekly schedule, then biweekly before the arrival of Episode 5, which aired three weeks later on Wednesday. The delayed episode arrived after the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, whose debate style was depicted in the Episode 2. However, “South Park” creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone told the Denver Post the delay was unrelated to recent events, like Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, or the content: “No one pulled the episode, no one censored us, and you know we’d say so if true.” The pair had issued a statement on Sept. 17 saying the episode wasn’t finished in time. Future episodes will air every two weeks through Dec. 10.
Here is a guide to every parody and reference so far on this season of “South Park.”
This story will be updated with each new episode.
‘Sermon on the ‘Mount,’ Episode 1
Cartman in “Sermon on the ‘Mount.”
(Comedy Central)
Cutting funding to the Corp. for Public Broadcasting
Cartman is dismayed to find out National Public Radio has lost its federal funding after he tunes in to hear static — an NPR program is his “favorite show,” he says, where “all the liberals b— and whine about stuff.” He rants to his friends about how the government “can’t cancel a show” and wonders what might be next on the chopping block.
In July, the Senate voted to approve the Trump White House’s proposal to claw back roughly $1 billion in federal funding previously allocated for public broadcasting. NPR and PBS are still operating despite the funding cuts, but layoffs and reduced programming are expected.
Christianity in public schools
Head of South Park Elementary PC Principal, whose name was a play on the initialism for politically correct, announces to the school that his name now stands for “Power Christian Principal.” He holds an assembly where he says that “our Lord and savior Jesus Christ” is the only thing that can bring back some normalcy to these “corrupt times.” He proceeds to welcome Jesus to the assembly as a guest speaker. When the students go back home, their parents and the people of South Park are alarmed to hear about the emphasis on Christianity — and the presence of Jesus — in the town’s public school.
The phrase frequently used by Trump was inscribed on a T-shirt Cartman wears after he realizes the concept of “wokeness” is no longer prominent. “Everyone hates the Jews, everyone’s fine with using gay slurs,” he says, lamenting that he no longer feels purpose if there’s no wokeness to contest.
Karoline Leavitt
The White House press secretary is depicted corralling the president, sporting a large cross necklace, as she often does during press briefings. Leavitt tells Trump a lot of his supporters are starting to turn against him and begs him to talk to them, adding that they’re “really riled up.” Trump’s base has expressed frustration over the administration’s approach to sharing information about the Jeffery Epstein case after he promised more transparency about the convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in 2019, and the sex trafficking investigation involving the late financier.
President Trump
Trump appears this season with an image of his face over an animated body, frequently repeating the phrase “Relax, guy” and threatening lawsuits against anyone who’s in his way. He is shown berating a White House portrait painter for an unflattering depiction of him and there are references to the size of the president’s genitalia. He’s also depicted as being in an abusive relationship with Satan — in which Trump is the abuser. “South Park” has previously depicted Satan as being the victim in an abusive relationship with Saddam Hussein.
The Epstein list
Satan laments the speculation that Trump’s name is on the “Epstein list,” a purported list of his alleged clients. In reality, the Justice Department has said no such list exists, walking back comments Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi made in a Fox News interview earlier this year that the list was “sitting on my desk” in preparation for release. When the list is brought up in the series, fictional Trump says, “Are we still talking about that?,” mirroring comments he made in real life.
CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ and Paramount drama
The stopwatch featured in the introduction to “60 Minutes” is strapped to a bomb when it appears on “South Park.” The hosts of the show are visibly nervous and continue praising the president while covering his lawsuit against the town of South Park, adding that they don’t agree with Trump’s detractors.
The scene references the legal tussle between Trump and Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, which airs “60 Minutes.” The president sued over edits to a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which led to Paramount agreeing to pay $16 million to settle the lawsuit in July; shortly after, the Federal Communications Commission, led by a Trump appointee, approved Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
During the episode’s fictitious “60 Minutes” segment over Trump’s lawsuit against the town, Jesus comes to visit the townspeople. Through whispers, he tells them, “I didn’t want to come back and be in the school, but I had to because it was part of a lawsuit and the agreement with Paramount.”
“The president’s suing you?” a protester asks.
Jesus, through clenched teeth, explains: “The guy can do what he wants now that someone backed down. … You guys saw what happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount! You really want to end up like Colbert? You guys gotta stop being stupid. … If someone has the power of the presidency and also has the power to sue and take bribes, then he can do anything to anyone.”
“All of you, shut the f— up or South Park is over!” Jesus says.
The people of South Park end up settling their lawsuit with the president for $3.5 million, saying it will be fine as long as they cut some funding for their schools, hospitals and roads. And as part of the settlement, they have to agree to “pro-Trump messaging.” Cut to a live-action deepfake video of Trump trekking through the desert in a show of loyalty to his supporters before he strips naked.
‘Got a Nut,’ Episode 2
Cartman becomes a podcaster in Episode 2.
(Comedy Central)
Note: This episode aired on Aug. 6, more than a month before political commentator Charlie Kirk, who is parodied throughout the episode, was shot and killed.
ICE recruitment and immigration raids
This episode is focused on the ongoing raids carried out across the country by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security officials since earlier this year.
When South Park Elementary counselor Mr. Mackey is fired — the government is doing away with needless spending in schools, he’s told — he signs up for a job with ICE, enticed by a generous signing bonus and a higher salary. Mackey watches a promotional video, complete with animations of officers wearing gaiters and a theme song: “We don’t ask for experience, just show up / We don’t care if you’ve read a book or grown up / If you’re crazy or fat and lazy, we don’t care at all … If you need a job, it’s a job to have.”
Mackey is hired with alarming speed and proceeds to go on his first raid, targeting a “Dora the Explorer” live show, which has a not-so-intimidating audience of young children and abuelitas. After ICE agents hear from protesters that there are “many Latinos in heaven,” they make the pearly gates their next stop.
Kristi Noem
The Department of Homeland Security secretary leads ICE agents through a series of raids this episode, but she first appears in an orientation video. She tells the new recruits, “A few years ago, I had to put my puppy down by shooting it in the face because sometimes doing what’s important means doing what’s hard,” and she proceeds to going on a shooting spree targeting yelping puppies (including Krypto the Superdog) throughout the episode. In her 2024 book, Noem wrote about how she killed her 14-month-old dog for exhibiting aggressive behavior.
She’s also seen rounding up as many immigrants as possible in raids, shouting orders like, “If it’s brown, it goes down.”
And in a running gag, her face periodically melts off, requiring a glam squad equivalent to a pit crew, and at one point, it seems to take on a life of its own. Trump also says her face “freaks me out” during the episode.
Noem responded to the depiction on Glenn Beck’s podcast, calling it “lazy” to target her looks. “If they wanted to criticize my job, go ahead and do that, but clearly they can’t, they just pick something petty like that,” she said.
Right-wing debate podcasts
While conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk does not appear as a character in this episode, his style of debate content — and his name — are featured.
Loudmouthed Cartman is frustrated that so many others, namely his classmate Clyde Donovan, are profiting off of “his shtick” of arguing against liberal views.
Clyde has a debate podcast, inviting viewers to watch as he “totally destroys these woke liberal students.” He’s set up in a tent on a college campus where he waits as a line of students come to speak with him, and he challenges them to “prove me wrong.” Cartman eventually takes over, saying that he is the “master debater” and sporting a haircut similar to Kirk’s. He shuts down his opponents’ arguments with phrases like, “You just hate America and you love abortions.”
Clyde and Cartman’s content replicates Kirk’s well-known style. The founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA frequently toured college campuses and hosted events just like the one depicted in the episode. The phrase “prove me wrong” was used frequently by Kirk to promote his events, inviting students to challenge his political and cultural views.
On Sept. 10, Kirk was shot and killed while hosting such an event at Utah Valley University, the first stop of his “American Comeback” tour. Weeks before he was killed, Kirk responded to the episode with a 30-minute YouTube video, finding it humorous.
“I think a lot of it was hilarious towards me,” he said. “Some of it was very funny and I don’t think we should have too thick of skin.”
He also touched on the reach of his organization and events, noting that his name is enshrined in “The Charlie Kirk Award for Young Masterdebaters” that Cartman and Clyde compete for in the episode. “So a campus thing I’ve been doing for 13 years to debate random college kids has now been so important that it gets prominent prime-time placement on Comedy Central?” he asked through laughs. “I think the whole thing is just awesome and hilarious.”
Mar-a-Lago
When Mr. Mackey is rewarded for good work as an ICE agent, he’s flown to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, where he frequently stays and hosts events.
He’s greeted by giggling women who hand him a drink and put flower leis around his neck before the president meets him and gives him a brief tour of Mar-a-Lago. While there, Mackey accidentally walks in on two older men receiving massages from younger women, one of whom is a tearful Dora, detained in the raid that took place earlier in the episode. The scene is likely a reference to Epstein and accounts from survivors who say they were forced to give massages to him and his associates. Trump said this summer that Epstein “stole” young women who worked at the Mar-a-Lago spa, which caused them to have a falling-out.
JD Vance
The vice president is depicted as a version of Tattoo, the character from late-’70s drama “Fantasy Island,” and is animated similarly as Trump, except the photo used for his face is lifted directly from viral memes. He often does the president’s bidding, calling him “boss.” In turn, Trump frequently calls Vance “stupid.” Acknowledging the caricature, Vance wrote on X, “Well, I’ve finally made it.”
‘Sickofancy,’ Episode 3
Randy begins microdosing ketamine and Towelie goes to Washington, D.C., in this episode.
(Comedy Central)
Immigration raid at cannabis farm
Randy’s hemp farm business, Tegridy Farms, is the site of an immigration raid at the the beginning of this episode. While Randy is shooting a commercial, complete with calming guitar music and a trite script, ICE officers interrupt by detaining almost all the workers. “You sons of b—,” Randy screams after the vans as they drive away. “Those are my Mexicans!”
In July, chaotic raids targeting a cannabis company’s growing site and greenhouse in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties drew national attention after a man who was fleeing immigration officials died.
Microdosing ketamine
With his business in shambles, Randy rethinks his strategy with the help of an over-complimentary AI chatbot. Perhaps in a nod to Trump’s former ally and onetime “special government employee” Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman behind Tesla, SpaceX and X, Randy turns to ketamine. Randy insists a slew of “tech guys” are taking small doses of ketamine and the drug “gives their minds the edge to work with AI.” Ketamine “bolsters our focus and creativity,” he tells his partner Towelie. Under the influence of the drug, Randy transforms Tegridy Farms from a “quaint farm” into an “AI-powered marijuana platform for global solutions.”
Musk’s use of ketamine and other drugs has been previously reported, with the tech leader saying in a 2024 interview that ketamine has been prescribed to him and is “helpful for getting one out of a negative frame of mind.” He has denied abusing it. “If you use too much ketamine, you can’t really get work done. I have a lot of work, I’m typically putting in 16-hour days,” he said. “So I don’t really have a situation where I can be not mentally acute for an extended period of time.”
Musk supported Trump’s campaign and served as an advisor to the president, helming the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year with the goal of slashing spending.
Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook
Meta and Apple chief executives Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook, who were both present at Trump’s inauguration and have maintained friendly relationships with him, are both portrayed in this episode as members of a long line outside of the Oval Office waiting to bestow a gift on the president.
“Mr. President, your ideas for the tech industry are so innovative,” Cook says to Trump. Cook gives the president a gift on behalf of Apple, which actually happened this summer. Zuckerberg is later seen giving the president a gift that appears to be a gold and bejeweled Meta virtual reality headset.
Luxury jet from Qatar
Qatar’s leader is also seen in line holding a model gold plane with a tag that says “Air Force One.” Like everyone else, the leader compliments the president and insists his genitalia is not small before giving him the gift. Trump and the Defense Department accepted a luxury Boeing 747 aircraft from Qatar for President Trump to use as Air Force One this summer, despite ongoing questions about the ethics and legality of taking the expensive gift from a foreign nation.
Washington, D.C.
When Towelie takes a trip to the capital in this episode, he sees armed troops guarding monuments like the Washington and Lincoln memorials and the Capitol surrounded by tanks and jets. In the episode, the Lincoln Memorial has been replaced by a statue of a stern-faced Trump with exposed genitalia.
In August, Trump called up National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to assist federal law enforcement in his bid to “reestablish law and order” by targeting criminals — though crime has been down in the city — and the homeless. Although troops were not initially armed, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later ordered them to carry service-issued weapons.
Reclassifying marijuana
Randy sends Towelie to meet with Trump and give him a gift in hopes of persuading him to reclassify marijuana on the national level. (The gift is Towelie himself.) Randy, in the form of a hologram, tells Trump he thinks they can work out a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Trump said in an August press conference that his administration was considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, which would be a significant change in policy but would not make the drug legal across the country.
‘Wok is Dead,’ Episode 4
Butters buys a Labubu for his girlfriend.
(Comedy Central)
Tariffs and Labubus
The clerk at the City Pop-Up — rebranded from City Wok — the lone purveyor of Labubus in the area, says the popular dolls are hard to keep in stock, and they’re very expensive because of tariffs. The “mystery box” that Butters has to purchase for the chance of getting the exact Labubu his girlfriend wants sets him back $85, and later, the price shoots up to $120 to offset a rise in tariffs. (The real-life dolls often fetch much more than that on resale sites, especially if they are rare.) When Butters balks at the price, the store owner explains that the cost of tariffs is passed onto the customer.
Fox News
This episode shows a clip from a Fox News segment where an anchor is overly complimentary of the president. The anchor says the president will take questions from a “diverse crowd of reporters” after returning to the U.S. from a historic tariff summit, only to reveal all of the reporters are from Fox.
The Fox News reporters also fixate on President Trump’s relationship with his wife, Melania, and his increasingly frequent appearances with Satan. There’s a heavy use of wordplay that suggests the anchors could be asking about the affair between the president and Satan or about whether Trump is actually the devil himself.
Kid Rock
Fox News reporters check in with Trump ally Kid Rock after breaking the news that — buckle up — Trump has impregnated Satan. A sobbing Kid Rock tells the reporters, “I’m just so happy.” The musician is a friend and ardent supporter of Trump, having performed at his inaugural rally in January and spoken many times publicly about his support of the president.
‘Conflict of Interest,’ Episode 5
South Park Season 27, Episode 5 “Conflict of Interest”
(Comedy Central)
Israel and Gaza
Kyle becomes irate when his classmates place bets on a popular market prediction app that his mother would “strike Gaza and destroy a Palestinian hospital.”
This episode marks the first time this season that the show has touched on the current conflict in Gaza, and it referenced real-life Israeli strikes on hospitals in the area.
Donald Trump Jr.
Trump’s eldest son appears in this episode as someone with many roles — he’s a strategic advisor for predictive markets, he answers the phone for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and also acts as a special advisor to Israel. Although he wears all those hats, the series doesn’t portray him as particularly bright — he has a complete conversation over the phone with himself.
He’s also animated to look as if he’s had extensive plastic surgery and he speaks with a strained voice, as if he can’t move his face.
Trump Jr. holds several key roles in his family’s business and his father’s political sphere in real life, and he serves as an advisor to both Polymart and Kalshi, two prediction market apps that are named and spoofed in this episode.
Trump’s stance on abortion
Less keen on the baby he’s expecting with Satan, Trump looks for different ways to harm the pregnancy in hopes of terminating it. He asks Satan if he wants to smoke and hang out in a hot tub, holds up a wire hanger, tries to get him to trip down the stairs or fall under a pile of cat feces, and even makes Satan a soup full of emergency contraceptive pills.
In reality, Trump has repeatedly shifted his messaging on abortion but has most recently said he believes specific abortion policies and access should be decided not by federal law but by individual states.
Brendan Carr
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission comes into the fold this episode when Kyle goes through several hoops to try to file a complaint over the bet involving his mom, which he finds offensive. The FCC is “dealing with all the offensive stuff now,” Kyle is told.
Carr says he needs to speak with the president after learning about the offensive content, but he ends up falling victim to all of Trump’s antics in his attempt to terminate Satan’s pregnancy, which send him to the hospital. The doctors say they’re “afraid he may lose his freedom of speech.”
Vance later threatens Carr, who keeps interfering with Trump’s attempts to end Satan’s pregnancy (Vance doesn’t want anything to mess with his proximity to the presidency). “We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way,” Vance says to Carr.
Those words match the phrase Carr said in real life a week before this episode aired in reference to his call on ABC to act on comments late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made about Kirk’s suspected killer and his death. Carr has remained in the headlines since then as backlash grew against the FCC’s role in Kimmel’s suspension.
Benjamin Netanyahu
Frustrated by the bet about her and the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Kyle’s mom storms into the office of the Israeli prime minister. “Just who do you think you are, killing thousands and flattening neighborhoods, then wrapping yourself in Judaism like it’s some shield from criticism?” she says. “You’re making life for Jews miserable and life for American Jews impossible.” She continues to berate him and a group of officials while the credits roll. Netanyahu does not say anything in response.
WASHINGTON — Bringing prominent White House support to the streets of Washington, Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday visited with National Guard troops at the city’s main train station as protesters chanted “free D.C.” — the latest tense interlude from President Trump’s crackdown in the nation’s capital. “We brought some law and order back,” the vice president asserted.
“We appreciate everything you’re doing,” Vance said as he presented burgers to the troops. Citing the protesters whose shouts echoed through the station, Vance said “they appear to hate the idea that Americans can enjoy their communities.”
The appearance, which also included White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, was a striking scene that illustrated the Republican administration’s intense focus on the situation in Washington and its willingness to promote an initiative that has polarized the Democrat-led city.
An estimated 1,900 troops are being deployed in D.C. More than half are coming from Republican-led states. Besides Union Station, they have mostly been spotted around downtown areas, including the National Mall and Metro stops.
An early morning accident involved an armored vehicle
The intersection of life in the city and a military presence produced another striking scene early Wednesday when an armored vehicle collided with a civilian car less than a mile from the U.S. Capitol. One person was trapped inside the car after the accident and had to be extricated by emergency responders, according to D.C. fire department spokesman Vito Maggiolo. The person was taken to a hospital because of minor injuries.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. A video posted online showed the aftermath of the collision, with a tan-colored armored vehicle twice the height of the civilian car with a crushed side.
“You come to our city and this is what you do? Seriously?” a woman yelled at the troops in the video.
Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said more than 550 people have been arrested so far, and the U.S. Marshals are offering $500 rewards for information leading to additional arrests. “Together, we will make DC safe again!” Bondi wrote on social media.
City officials work to navigate the situation
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, trying to balance the constituency that elected her and the reality in front of her, acknowledged the changing situation in the city as she attended a back-to-school event with teachers and staff.
“This is not the same time, is it, that we experienced in opening school last year,” she said. Bowser said she would worry about the politics and told school employees that “your job is to love on the kids, teach them and make sure that they are prepared and to trust that I’m going to do the right thing for all of us.”
Despite the militarized backdrop, Bowser said it’s important that children “have joy when they approach this school year.” Public schools around Washington reconvene Monday.
The skewer-everyone cartoon TV show “ South Park,” which has leaned into near-real-time satire in recent years, this week made the federal crackdown fodder for a new episode. A 20-second promo released by Comedy Central depicts the character “Towelie” — a walking towel — riding in a bus past the U.S. Supreme Court building and White House, where armed troops are patrolling. A tank rolls by in front of the White House.
“This seems like a perfect place for a towel,” the character says upon disembarking the bus.
“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone recently signed a reported $1.5-billion, five-year deal with Paramount for new episodes and streaming rights to their series, which began its 27th season this summer.
The season premiere mocked the president’s body in a raunchy manner and depicted him sharing a bed with Satan.
Whitehurst, Brown and Megerian write for the Associated Press. AP writers David Bauder and Michelle Price contributed to this report.
Comedy Central’s “South Park” continues to target President Trump, and viewers appear to be loving it.
Ratings for the 27th season of the irreverent and often ribald animated series have surged, according to data from Nielsen and Comedy Central. The second episode, which premiered Aug. 6, scored 6.2 million viewers across the cable network and Paramount+, now the exclusive streaming home for the series, over the first three days.
The figure is 49% higher than the first three days for the season premiere, which debuted on July 23. The second episode scored 1.56 million viewers on Comedy Central, making it the highest rated episode since 2018, with nearly all of them in the 18 to 49 age group coveted by advertisers.
The new season of “South Park” launched amid the tensions between Comedy Central’s parent Paramount and the Trump White House. It also arrived after the show’s co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone scored a massive $1.5-billion five-year deal with Paramount for the streaming rights, which previously belonged to HBO Max.
Paramount paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit over Trump’s claim that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris to aid her in the 2024 Election. First Amendment experts said the suit had no merit. But the settlement was seen as necessary for Skydance Media to get federal regulatory approval of its $8-billion acquisition of Paramount, which closed on Aug. 7.
“Late Show” host Stephen Colbert joked that the settlement was a bribe. Days later he was told by CBS that his program was being canceled at the end of the 2025-26 season due to financial losses.
But “South Park” has not held anything back in its comedic takes on Trump, presenting him naked and in bed with the devil. Trump’s boast that Paramount is giving him $20 million in public service announcements as part of the “60 Minutes” settlement was also lampooned. (The company has not confirmed that such a deal was made for free ad time).
Cartman the podcaster in Comedy Central’s “South Park.”
(Comedy Central)
The second episode showed the president dressed in a white “Fantasy Island”-style suit with Vice President J.D. Vance as his diminutive sidekick. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was portrayed with a melting face and a trigger-happy response to puppy dogs. Both were were running gags throughout the espisode.
“South Park” regular Cartman became a conservative podcaster in the second episode and was seen sporting a hairstyle similar to that of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Parker and Stone will take a break this week as Comedy Central will air the very first “South Park” episode — 1997’s “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe” — on Wednesday as part of a marathon for the series.
Dean Cain played a superhero on TV 30 years ago. Now he wants to help the government in its unconstitutional sweeps of Home Depot parking lots, schools and bus benches for people who appear to be immigrants.
Cain played Superman in the 1990s TV series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” On Tuesday, he encouraged his Instagram followers to apply for a job with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
“Here’s your opportunity to join ICE,” he told followers in a video. “You can earn lots of great benefits and pay. Since President Trump took office, ICE has arrested hundreds of thousands of criminals including terrorists, rapists, murderers, pedophiles, MS-13 gang members, drug traffickers, you name it — very dangerous people who are no longer on the streets.”
Clearly, Cain is still fighting fantasy villains because nonpublic data from ICE indicate that the government is primarily detaining individuals with no criminal convictions of any kind. Of the 200,000 people detained by ICE since October, 65% have never committed a crime, and 93% haven’t committed a violent crime.
Dean Cain with co-star Teri Hatcher in “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.”
(ABC Television Network)
But he wasn’t the only player from series TV to end up in a recruitment post for the Department of Homeland Security. On its X account, the department pulled an image from a “South Park” teaser for the show’s forthcoming episode “Got a Nut.” It showed masked men riding in black cars marked “ICE.” Homeland Security added its own caption: “Join.Ice.Gov.”
The show’s last episode, “Sermon on the Mount,” mercilessly lampooned the president’s manhood and penchant for vengeance-driven lawsuits. Trump responded by calling the animated comedy “irrelevant,” though its searing indictment of the president represented the show’s highest-rated season opener since 1999.
Paramount Global reported that viewership was up 68% from the previous “South Park” season premiere and was the top show across cable on July 23. The episode reached nearly 6 million viewers across Paramount+ and Comedy Central platforms in the three days after it aired.
A 20-second teaser of Wednesday’s “Got a Nut” episode shows Trump at a dinner event with Satan. As Trump’s courage is heralded by an off-screen speaker, the president rubs Satan’s leg under the table. Satan tells him to stop. Even the devil is disgusted.
It also appears “South Park” will be focused on ICE recruitment or, rather, the absurdity of the administration’s public call to arms. “When Mr. Mackey loses his job, he desperately tries to find a new way to make a living,” reads the caption about “Got a Nut” on “South Park’s” X account. It’s accompanied by a screenshot of the oft-misguided former school counselor Mackey looking out of sorts in a face mask and ICE vest. He stands near a characterization of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who vamps in ICE gear and points a pistol in the air.
On Tuesday, “South Park” responded via X to the department’s usage of an image from the forthcoming episode: “Wait, so we ARE relevant?“ followed by a hashtag we can’t reprint here.
Satire around MAGA’s inhumane immigration policy has ramped up after the Trump administration launched an ICE hiring campaign, promising a $50,000 signing bonus and retirement benefits. “Your country is calling you to serve at ICE,” Noem said in a news release last week. “Your country needs dedicated men and women of ICE to get the worst of the worst criminals out of our country. This is a defining moment in our nation’s history. Your skills, your experience, and your courage have never been more essential. Together, we must defend the homeland.”
Cain’s signature show has been off the air as many years as “South Park” has been on, but Tuesday he decided it was time to slip on the virtual unitard one more time, imagining himself a superhero as he took to social media and said: “For those who don’t know, I am a sworn law enforcement officer, as well as being a filmmaker, and I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it. So I joined up,” the 59-year-old said.
A follower replied: “Unfortunately, you can’t join ICE if you’re over 37 years of age — even if you’re a fully licensed state law enforcement officer.”
Cain replied: “Perhaps we’ll get the changed. …”
Mere hours passed, then viola! Noem announced during an appearance on Fox News that ICE’s hiring age cap had been eliminated. And faster than a speeding rubber bullet fired at an ICE protester, Superman extended the dream of state-sanctioned kidnapping to the young and old.
A naked Donald Trump was depicted in bed with Satan in the 27th season premiere of South Park, a reference which sparked anger from the White House in the US
04:45, 25 Jul 2025Updated 06:46, 25 Jul 2025
South Park co-creator Trey Parker hit back at anger from the White House over the depiction of a naked Donald Trump in bed with Satan in the animated series.
But today Mr Parker, who with Matt Stone created South Park in 1997, had the briefest – and iciest – response to the backlash. He said: “We’re terribly sorry” and gave a long, deadpan-comic stare to camera and his fans.
Mr Parker, who also co-created The Book of Mormon, was asked for his reaction to the fracas as he sat on the stage at San Diego’s Comic-Con International at the beginning of a Comedy Central animation panel. Mr Stone was also on the panel at the comic book convention, held in California every year.
In the episode, Mr Trump sues the town of South Park when its residents challenge the presence of Jesus Christ – the actual person – in its elementary school. Jesus tells them they ought to settle.
But in a statement after the season premiere aired, a spokesperson for the White House said: “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.”
(Image: Comedy Central)
In the episode, Jesus says: “You guys saw what happened to CBS? Yeah, well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount. Do you really want to end up like Colbert?”
CBS and parent Paramount Global canceled Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” last week, days after Colbert sharply criticised Paramount’s settlement of Mr Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview. CBS and Paramount executives said it was a financial decision to axe “The Late Show.”
The efficiency of South Park production, and the brinksmanship of its creators, has allowed it to stay incredibly current for an animated series, fans say.
Speaking at Comic-Con, father-of-one Mr Parker said: “I don’t know what next week’s episode is going to be. Even just three days ago, we were like, ‘I don’t know if people are going to like this.'”
“South Park” wasted no time putting its very existence on the line, again. On Wednesday, the Comedy Central series kicked off its 27th season with a searing indictment of President Trump and its network’s parent company, Paramount. Paramount recently paid the president $16 million toward his future library rather than fighting a lawsuit Trump brought against “60 Minutes” (Paramount is also a parent company of CBS).
It was also announced last week that “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” which airs on Paramount-owned CBS, was being canceled. Colbert is one of the most prominent political satirists in America, and from his pulpit has been a relentless critic of MAGA policy and Trump. Like the payout over the “60 Minutes” lawsuit, Colbert’s cancellation comes just as Paramount is seeking federal approval of an $8-billion merger with Skydance Media.
“South Park” couldn’t have returned at a better time.
The episode, titled “Sermon on the Mount,” opens with Cartman discovering his favorite radio station, NPR, has been canceled. Making fun of its wokeness was part of his identity, and now he’s lost and angry. “The government can’t cancel a show!” he laments before dropping a self-referential joke about “South Park’s” own vulnerability. “I mean, what show are they going to cancel next?”
Paramount might be tempted to cancel “South Park” after Wednesday night’s damning premiere, when the show repeatedly lampooned the company’s costly capitulation to Trump. And Paramount earlier this week announced a $1.5 billion deal with “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for 14 new movies, six more seasons and streaming rights on Paramount+ for the next five years.
The new season continues to plumb the horrifying depths of 2025 when Cartman also finds that his school is demanding students accept the presence of Jesus, literally. Cartman is called to the principal’s office for not letting Jesus sit with his group in the cafeteria at lunch, even though there were no empty seats. There’s always room for the Lord, he’s told.
The townspeople become angry that they voted in a guy who they thought would target other people — like immigrants. They don’t want religion forced on their kids at school, but newscasts make their plight seem hopeless. “More protests today as the president pushes harder for Christianity in our schools. The president stated earlier today that the spirit of Jesus is important to our country and he will sue anyone who doesn’t agree with him.”
The truly wicked satire begins when they cut to Trump at the White House. He’s the only character whose head is an actual photo rather than a drawing, and the president’s image is deftly manipulated to reflect the many faces of the real man: pouting, grimacing, smiling, leering and pouting, again.
He repeatedly demands that everyone relax while he threatens to destroy them. He argues with Canada’s prime minister over tariffs (“You don’t want me to bomb you like I did Iraq,” says Trump. “I thought you just bombed Iran,” the PM replies. “Iran. Iraq. What the hell’s the difference?”). Trump also lies naked in bed with Satan, revealing his minuscule manhood. Disgusted, the devil rebuffs the president’s advances and says, “I can’t even see anything, it’s so small.”
Satan is also perturbed that some rando on Insta keeps commenting about sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s client list.
“Epstein, are we still talking about that?” Trump says.
“Are you on the list or not?” Satan asks. “It’s weird that when it comes up you just keep telling everyone to relax.”
Then we jump to a segment of “60 Minutes” where the beleaguered show’s hosts mumble in terror for fear of another lawsuit as the show’s signature stopwatch sound is set to the image of a ticking time bomb. They refer to the president as “a great man” who “is probably watching” before cutting to their reporter who is covering the protests against Trump in South Park, Colorado.
Jesus touches down to address his flock under the guise of fulfilling Trump’s wish to bring Christianity back into public schools. But he’s really there to warn the crowd, and does so in a whisper. “I didn’t want to come back and be in the school, but I had to because it was part of a lawsuit and the agreement with Paramount.”
“The president’s suing you?” a protester asks.
Jesus, through clenched teeth, explains: “The guy can do what he wants now that someone backed down. … You guys see what’s happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount! You really want to end up like Colbert? … All of you, shut the f— up or South Park is over!”
The town ends up being sued by Trump, and they, like Paramount, cave. They pay him off, but are also required to sing his praises as part of the settlement.
The episode ends with a pro-Trump ad by the town. It’s a realistic deepfake video of the president trekking through the desert heat in a show of loyalty to his supporters. He strips naked and once again we’re reminded that it’s not just his hands that are small.
That wail you just heard? It’s coming from the White House. A new lawsuit is born.
The creators of Comedy Central’s “South Park” reached a breakthrough Monday in the tense negotiations over the streaming rights of the long-running satirical cartoon.
Paramount agreed to buy the global streaming rights for “South Park” to bring the show to the company’s digital service, Paramount+, for the first time in the U.S., according to three people close to the negotiations who were not authorized to comment.
The deal with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, through their Park County production company, values the global streaming rights at $300 million a year, according to two of the people close to the agreement, who could not discuss the matter publicly because the deal is not final.
The five-year deal means the show will fetch $1.5 billion for streaming alone.
The sum preserves the show’s status as one of the world’s most valuable TV franchises.
Both sides were motivated to reach a deal before Wednesday, when Paramount’s Comedy Central channel kicks off the 27th season of “South Park.”
Paramount also wanted to avoid any public relations fiascoes when Stone and Parker take the stage Thursday at fan-fest Comic-Con in San Diego.
Separately, the two sides have been negotiating an overall deal for Parker and Stone, to renew their previous $900-million pact that kept the show on Comedy Central with new episodes through 2027. Parker and Stone’s team are seeking a higher valuation in order to produce new seasons.
Media giant Paramount Global is trying to avoid a streaming future without Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny.
As Paramount struggles to complete a key merger, the company is in the midst of a protracted negotiation to extend one of its biggest and most important franchises: the long-running foulmouthed cartoon “South Park.”
Paramount’s $900-million overall deal with “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker doesn’t expire for another two years. New episodes run first on Paramount’s basic cable network Comedy Central.
But efforts to renew that venture and bring the show to the Paramount+ streaming service have hit a major snag, according to three people familiar with the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly.
The situation highlights deep tensions and disagreements as a trio of executives try to manage Paramount until the company’s sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media, which has the right to approve or deny large deals such as the “South Park” pact under covenants made with Paramount.
Paramount leaders are desperate to lock down “South Park’s” streaming rights in the U.S. and abroad. They’ve long been frustrated by a licensing arrangement made six years ago by the previous regime that sent “South Park” to rival HBO Max, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. That deal expires this month.
“South Park” is one of Paramount’s most important shows. Along with “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” the four boys and their celebrity-skewering ways put Comedy Central on the map for basic cable viewers, taking on hot-button issues from Scientology and the War on Terror to the royal family and the Trump administration.
During a May earnings call, Paramount co-Chief Executive Chris McCarthy — who runs Paramount’s media networks as well as Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios — told investors that “South Park” episodes would begin streaming on Paramount+ in July.
However, Paramount hasn’t nailed down the streaming rights to “South Park,” according to the three people familiar with the conversations. Since earlier this year, Paramount has made at least one offer to Parker and Stone as an early extension of their overall deal.
The company also wants to secure rights to stream the 333 episodes of “South Park” on Paramount+.
Some of the knowledgeable people expect “South Park” distribution fees to be valued at more than $200 million a year.
But Skydance hasn’t signed off, believing the deals to be too rich, according to the sources. Paramount executives believe the show is worth the big bucks, given the show’s enduring popularity and legacy.
Representatives for Paramount and Skydance declined to comment.
Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, whose firm WME represents Parker and Stone, defended Paramount and Skydance’s handling of the situation on Friday by phone.
“Nobody has rejected anything. They are just doing their analysis,” Emanuel told The Times in a brief interview. “We’ve got offers from other distributors. Everybody wants this show.”
Skydance’s $8-billion takeover of Paramount has been in a holding pattern for months as the two companies wait for federal regulators’ approval. Skydance, backed by tech mogul Larry Ellison and RedBird Capital Partners, is eager to take over the storied media company.
They intend to bring increased financial rigor to Paramount’s operations, other sources have said. Paramount and Skydance have told Wall Street the deal will bring $2 billion in cost savings, with half of that coming in the first year.
Deadlines are looming. The new season, the program’s 27th, is scheduled to debut July 9 on Comedy Central.
Unless Paramount strikes a deal with the creators by June 23, the company risks losing the franchise’s streaming rights because Parker and Stone could shop the show to other interested streamers, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu. However, sources cautioned that negotiations could go past the June deadline and that the parties expect a deal to get done.
Represented by their longtime attorney Kevin Morris, who is leading the current negotiations, the duo carved out the internet rights nearly two decades ago. They formed a joint venture with Paramount (then known as Viacom) called South Park Digital Studios. That decision proved highly lucrative for Parker and Stone, also known for the hit Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon.”
Paramount runs the joint venture with Stone and Parker, sharing control of the streaming rights to the show that launched in 1997 on Comedy Central, although the duo can veto streaming deals they find unfavorable.
Companies are typically not supposed to wade too deeply into another firm’s affairs. Federal antitrust laws prohibit so-called gun-jumping, when an acquiring company begins calling the shots before a deal’s official closure. But Paramount agreed to accept Skydance’s input on big-ticket expenditures while the two sides wait for the deal to close.
The “South Park” streaming rights negotiations also have been complicated by a lawsuit brought two years ago by Warner Bros. Discovery. That company accused Paramount of violating terms of its 2019 licensing pact for “South Park,” after Warner paid about $540 million for the show’s streaming rights.
Paramount and the “South Park” creators developed specials featuring the four animated boys in a fictional Colorado mountain town to stream exclusively on Paramount+. Warner argued the move violated its licensing deal. HBO Max declined to comment.
Two years after the HBO Max deal, Paramount struck a new accord with Parker and Stone for $900 million, sealing their partnership and ensuring new episodes of “South Park” would be made. That deal runs to 2027, although Paramount executives have offered to extend that arrangement for several years.
Paramount has long intended to shift the show to Paramount+ as soon as the HBO Max deal expires.
The various parties have long envisioned a scenario where domestic and international rights would be shared by at least two different streaming services. Although neither partner would have exclusive rights, the current trend in television is for studios to maximize revenue to help pay for expensive programs, like “South Park,” while maintaining some streaming rights.
Paramount also has been dealing with another crisis that has been complicated by the Skydance merger. The company has sought to settle President Trump’s $20-billion lawsuit claiming subsidiary CBS News deceptively edited a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, an allegation CBS denies.
Trump’s case hasn’t been resolved, and the Federal Communications Commission has been slow to review Skydance’s proposed takeover of Paramount, extending the deal review.
The Skydance transaction has been pending at the FCC since last fall, leaving Paramount executives in limbo.
