Paramount’s new CEO doesn’t seem to think he has a “South Park” problem.
Rather, David Ellison sees the animated show as part of the solution for the battered media company.
Ellison said he has been a fan of “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker for his entire adult life. “Matt and Trey are incredibly talented,” Ellison told CNN. “They are equal opportunity offenders and always have been.”
The Comedy Central show certainly is a key asset for Paramount. But it has emerged this summer as one of the most scathing critics of President Trump on US television, raising concerns about whether Paramount has the stomach for the political headaches that could follow.
Trump has tried to bully his media critics this year, with some success, including at Paramount. Former owners of the company were accused of bribery after settling Trump’s legally dubious lawsuit against “60 Minutes” last month. The Trump administration approved Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media days after the settlement was finalized.
Ellison, the CEO of the newly merged enterprise, said he wasn’t involved with that settlement. “We comply with all laws, including anti-bribery laws,” he said at a press conference Thursday.
Ellison dodged questions about whether he separately agreed to air public service announcements for Trump-aligned causes. (Trump says he did.)
“I do not want to politicize our company in any way, shape or form,” Ellison said.
But in a year marked by acts of appeasement and capitulation, Paramount employees and viewers have questioned whether new management will support news coverage and entertainment content that ticks off Trump.
The recent cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” intensified those concerns since Colbert is an outspoken Trump critic.
On Thursday, Ellison said he wasn’t involved in that decision, and only found out on the day it was announced. But he reiterated what anonymous sources said at the time — that “The Late Show” was losing money in a distressed late-night TV marketplace.
“South Park,” on the other hand, is highly profitable, as Ellison pointed out to CNN.
He praised Stone and Parker at length and pointed to Paramount’s recent five-year deal with their production company as proof that his team will invest in growth areas going forward.
The deal, which is worth $1.5 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, entailed 50 new episodes of “South Park” and exclusive streaming rights to the show.
Ellison is betting that “South Park,” including its back catalog of hundreds of episodes, will help grow the Paramount+ streaming service.
As for the show’s merciless depictions of Trump in bed with Satan, etc., Ellison said he hadn’t watched Wednesday night’s new episode yet, thereby avoiding discussing the political nature of the satire.
Because “South Park” premieres on a cable channel and streams on a digital service, it is not subject to the government regulatory scrutiny that applies to broadcasters.
The Trump administration was specifically involved in reviewing the Paramount-Skydance deal because Paramount owns CBS stations that are licensed by the FCC.
Ellison’s management team made a number of commitments to the FCC, including the hiring of an ombudsman at CBS to review charges of bias.
Earlier this week, FCC chair Brendan Carr, a Trump loyalist, said that he still has an open case involving CBS — a “news distortion” complaint that was leveled against “60 Minutes.”
In other words, the administration still has at least one way to exercise power over Paramount, even after the company struck a settlement with Trump.
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