Would the makers of South Park play on safe? Or would they name the crazy situation in which they were? That question hung in the air just before the 27th season of the satirical animation series started on Wednesday in the US.
After difficult negotiations, makers Trey Parker and Matt Stone had concluded an agreement with Mediaconglomateraat Paramount Global for fifty new episodes and the streaming rights of the entire series that has been running since 1997. According to trade magazines as Variety Is there an amount of one and a half billion dollars involved in the deal for a period of five years. At the same time, another satirist who has a contract with the same company, talk show comedian and Donald Trump critic Stephen Colbert will soon have to be cleared. He doesn’t get a new deal and his talk show The Late Show Must stop on TV channel CBS, part of Paramount.
According to Paramount, Colbert has to leave due to the lossness of his program. But clients, such as media journalist and talk show expert Bill Carter, thought it was at least curious that he has to leave while Paramount is on the eve of a merger with production company Skydance. A fusion that has since been approved by the FCC, a supervisor led by the Brendan Carr appointed by Trump.
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South Park Is known for hard humor where everything and everyone is ridiculed. But really controversial or controversial, the series about four coarse -covered children in the village of South Park had not been for a while. The series was a pop cultural sensation, especially in the first years and in 1999 experienced a peak with the cinema film, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
Just like other animation series such as The Simpsons and Family Guy there were plenty of fans to keep existing, but the excitement had been off for a while. Thanks to a fast production process, Parker and Stone could always continue to refer to current events, something that similar series cannot. And this time the two have much to say about the current political situation in the US.
In bed with satan
In the new episode, entitled ‘Sermon on the Mount’, Donald Trump threatens to drag the inhabitants of the town of South Park to court after they start complaining about him. Trump, for the first time as president a character in the series, is made completely ridiculous from the start. For example, we see him share the bed with Satan, a treatment that the makers gave earlier to the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Satan asks Trump about his relationship with the businessman and condemned sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Is it on the so-called Epstein list? “It is strange that, every time it comes up, you tell everyone that they have to do quietly.”
In recent weeks, Trump has tried to divert attention from the Epstein case, while some of his supporters believe holy in conspiracy theories around Epstein. For example, they do not believe that he has committed suicide.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone in 2022. Image Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
The discomfort around Stephen Colbert and other sensitive issues around Paramount are explicitly mentioned in the episode. Also comes 60 minutes In the question, the famous news program that was recently sued by Trump because the program would have edited an interview with his rival Kamala Harris in its favor. He had a weak business, but Paramount set for an amount of 16 million dollars. Something jacket “bribery” called in his talk show. The inhabitants of South Park receive advice from Jesus, who has returned to earth against his will. Jesus himself asks the village to also reach a settlement before they end up like Colbert.
The village therefore decides to pay Trump and to make ‘propaganda’ for the president. This results in a film with Trump that swings through the desert and pulls out its clothes. A recurring joke is his tiny genitals.
The White House came through spokesperson Taylor Rogers with a reaction: “This series has not been relevant for more than twenty years and hangs on a thread, with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt to get attention.”
Parker and Stone themselves seem to have fun with the situation. During a panel at the Comic-Con fair in San Diego, they apologized for showing the presidential penis. “We are sorry terrible.”