In recent weeks, Paramount has taken a series of actions that critics say are aimed at placating the Trump Administration to secure approval for its merger with Skydance. Earlier this month, the company agreed to pay $16 million to Donald Trump to settle a (baseless) lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview. This was followed last week with the cancellation of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. And earlier today, reports surfaced that Skydance had assured Trump’s FCC chairman it would eliminate DEI initiatives at the company. Really it feels like the only non-Trump-related business undertaken by Paramount this month was coming to terms with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone on a new $1.5 billion deal to bring global streaming rights to Paramount+, plus the commitment of five years’ worth of new episodes.
Leave it then to Parker and Stone to deliver 30 minutes of television that no doubt has Skydance/Paramount in panic sweats over the possibility that their deal just got derailed. The season 27 premiere of South Park, which aired Wednesday night on the Paramount-owned Comedy Central, was a full on skewering of Donald Trump, his endless use of lawsuits to bully his critics, the right wing’s over-obsession with overcorrecting cancel culture and political correctness, and the capitulation of corporate entities like Comedy Central’s own parent company (which, need I remind you, just came to terms with Parker and Stone on a $1.5 BILLION DOLLAR DEAL no less than 24 hours ago).
Perhaps most unflattering for Trump was Parker and Stone’s decision to portray him as Canadian—complete with the classic flapping head animation—but using his actual face rather than a stand-in (as Mr. Garrison had served in previous seasons). What’s more, multiple scenes depict Trump with a micro penis, cuddling in bed with Satan. The episode culminates with a PSA (a reference to reports that Paramount would be providing the Trump Administration with PSAs as part of its 60 Minutes settlement agreement), which features a human Trump impersonator, naked in a desert, again with a micro penis. Parker and Stone also launched a website where the PSA can be viewed online at hetrumpedus.com.
Hopefully Parker and Stone got that money up front.