Diddy, Ketamine, and a war with Canada are all featured in the trailer for the 27th season of South Park.
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The satirical cartoon, which has been running since 1997, is well-known for taking a comedic swipe at current events, and the forthcoming season looks to carry on that tradition. The trailer has an apocalyptic tone, with images of the town of South Park on fire and beleaguered father Stan encouraging his daughter to try Ketamine.
During a montage of highlights in the clip, we see what appears to be a war between the US and Canada; a nod to the January Potomac River mid-air collision, with Butters seen in the air traffic control tower; and most bizarrely, the show’s main characters flying through space with Diddy, seen using a jetpack.
The themes are all in keeping with subjects and celebrities the series has targeted before. The US-Canada war appears to be a reference to real-life tension between the nations, but in an eerie example of prescience a conflict between the countries was the subject of the 1999 film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, where the US declares war on its neighbours to the north because of the human of Canadian comedians Terrance and Philip.
Diddy, currently a figure of controversy due to numerous charges of illegal activity, also joins a long list of celebrities who have been lampooned. Ye, R Kelly, Phil Collins, The Jonas Brothers and more have been caricatured, with many celebrities taking issue with their portrayal.
In 2006, long-running cast member Isaac Hayes, who played Chef, quit the show following their portrayal of The Church Of Scientology, of which he was a member. The two-part episode Trapped In The Closet, which made fun of Tom Cruise, was also banned from being repeated on TV and is not available on streaming.
Season 27 of South Park will air from July 9, with UK viewers able to watch new episodes via streaming service Paramount+.
English (US) · 