Trey Parker and Matt Stone aren’t holding back.
The “South Park” creators tore into President Donald Trump − and their bosses at Paramount − in the animated show’s Season 27 premiere, which referenced everything from the company’s controversial settlement with the president to its shock decision to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Comedy Central, where “South Park” airs, is owned by Paramount.
The episode depicts Trump literally getting into bed with Satan, his lover, using actual photos of the president crudely placed on an animated body. It’s the same depiction that Saddam Hussein received in 1999’s “South Park” movie, and Satan even comments that Trump and Saddam are “exactly alike.”
In the episode, Trump is portrayed as a thin-skinned bully who threatens to sue anyone who gets on his bad side. The main plot revolves around the supposed death of “wokeness” and the president pushing Christianity in classrooms by having Jesus physically appear at the boys’ school. When the parents of South Park get angry and push back, Trump decides to sue the town.
The episode goes on to take aim at Paramount for its controversial settlement with Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, which he alleged was deceptively edited. A pair of “60 Minutes” anchors are shown covering the protests in South Park, but they nervously praise Trump and insist they don’t agree with the protesters, as if they are worried he will sue again.
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Eventually, Jesus arrives at the South Park protest and, speaking nervously with clenched teeth, reveals he came to the kids’ school “because it was part of a lawsuit and the agreement with Paramount.”
“(Trump) can do whatever he wants now that someone backed down,” Jesus continues, adding, “You guys saw what happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount! You really want to end up like Colbert? … Just shut up, or we’re going to get canceled, you idiots!”
The episode aired less than a week after the cancellation of Colbert’s “Late Show,” which CBS said was for financial reasons. But critics accused the network, which Paramount owns, of canceling the show to appease Trump amid a proposed merger with Skydance that requires Trump administration approval. Colbert is a vocal Trump critic and mocks him on almost every episode of “The Late Show.”
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The season premiere ends with the people of South Park settling with Trump and agreeing to do pro-Trump messaging as part of their agreement. So the show cuts to a supposed pro-Trump public service announcement, in which Trump, in live-action, is shown crawling through a desert completely nude.
With its surprisingly pointed critique of Paramount, the episode also aired on the same day that Paramount announced a five-year agreement with Parker and Stone for 50 new episodes of “South Park.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘South Park’ takes on Trump, Colbert cancellation, ’60 Minutes’ suit
