South Park Targets Paramount’s Deals and Decisions in Season 27 Premiere
If you thought South Park might mellow out after partnering with Paramount for a record-breaking $1.5 billion, think again. The show’s season 27 opener went in swinging, blasting the media giant for shelling out $16 million to settle with Donald Trump and abruptly pulling the plug on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, just as Colbert himself was needling their controversial moves.
This first episode doesn’t tiptoe around real-world politics. The story kicks off when Donald Trump sues the town of South Park after locals question Jesus Christ’s place in their public school. As lawyers fly in and legal drama brews, Jesus himself urges the town to back down—dropping a not-so-subtle punchline, “You really want to end up like Colbert?” That zinger cuts straight to Paramount’s top brass, who own CBS and, by extension, Colbert’s now-canceled late-night seat.
But this time, the animated jabs got even more literal. In an unusual move for the series, Trump’s appearance in the episode wasn’t a bouncy South Park cartoon, but an actual photograph—underscoring just how closely art was chasing after life. That visual, straight from the headlines, sent the unmistakable message that the show wasn’t bluffing about addressing current corporate and political drama head-on.
Fake PSA, Censorship Clashes, and Corporate Critique
What really got tongues wagging, though, was the fake PSA sandwiched in the episode. In classic South Park style, Parker and Matt Stone riffed mercilessly on Trump’s anatomy, declaring in a mock announcement, “His penis is teeny tiny.” Reports say Parker refused to comply with Paramount’s plea to blur the joke—staking a line in the sand over creative freedom versus corporate caution.
- This showdown comes despite the creators’ $1.5 billion mega-deal for fifty new episodes and streaming exclusivity.
- Recent weeks have seen Paramount axing diversity programs and letting Colbert go almost immediately after he poked fun at the Trump settlement, underscoring the real-time nature of the show’s satire.
- According to Parker, the South Park team often cranks out their scripts and animation just days before airtime, letting them pounce on fresh headlines with almost no delay.
The White House, never shy about South Park’s razor-sharp humor, has made some noise in response, though so far they’re keeping official comments close to the vest. Around the watercooler, though, it’s clear the episode struck a nerve in the culture wars playing out inside media boardrooms and late-night monologues.
There’s uncertainty swirling around what’s next for South Park, with Parker admitting he and Stone figure things out on the fly. One thing’s for sure: when a TV show is still this bold and provocative nearly three decades in, those corporate partners had better be ready to take a punch or two right to the wallet—or the ego.
