'South Park' mocking naked Trump = NOT FUNNY. Fake Obama arrest video = FUNNY!
Thanks to 'South Park' and its hilariously graphic AI depiction of President Donald Trump walking the desert naked, complete with talking genitalia, we're learning how our thin-skinned commander in chief defines comedy.
White House officials were outraged by the show's unflattering artificial intelligence depiction of Trump, which is funny in itself, since the easily triggered president is no stranger to making fake video "jokes."
On July 20, the actual president of the United States of America posted an AI-generated video of former Democratic President Barack Obama being arrested, handcuffed and hauled away. That bit of dark, authoritarian humor is apparently a real hoot, and totally acceptable, given that Trump has not apologized or threatened to sue himself for $80 bazillion, or whatever the going rate is for things that violate the Man-Child of Mar-a-Lago's sense of decency. (As I typed 'sense of decency,' my laptop crashed because the machine's processor rolled its eyes too hard.)
Envisioning the arrest of your political rivals is fine comedy, but apparently, the 'South Park' bit went too far.
White House calls 'South Park' a 'fourth-rate show'
Trump was reportedly big mad about a cartoon version of nude Trump hopping in bed with Satan and the Comedy Central show's unflattering AI-generated desert scene.
A White House spokesperson said: 'This show hasn't been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention. President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country's history – and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump's hot streak.'
Opinion: Insecure Trump knows he'll never measure up to Obama. And it kills him.
The 'fourth-rate show' that 'is hanging on by a thread' just got a five-year deal worth $1.5 billion from Paramount.
To put that in perspective, 'South Park' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone got about 94 times more from Paramount than Trump did when the company paid him $16 million to settle a ludicrous lawsuit against '60 Minutes.'
'South Park' is way more popular than Donald Trump is
And the same day the White House boasted about Trump delivering on promises, Gallup released a poll showing the president's approval rating hitting 37%, the lowest of his second term, and a majority of Americans disapproving of his handling of virtually everything, from immigration to the economy to the federal budget.
Opinion: Trump is unpopular, polls show, and he's building an America most Americans hate
But who cares about numbers or facts or whether the bar for presidents should be set slightly higher than a cartoon famous for a singing piece of poop? The bottom line is that in Trump's America, we have a new way to define comedy: A show mocking naked Trump = NOT FUNNY! A fake Obama arrest video = FUNNY!
I'm going to distill that definition a bit more, since the picture seems crystal clear: Anything making fun of Trump = NOT FUNNY!
Colbert canceled, Behar threatened and 'South Park' condemned
We've recently seen late-night host and relentless-Trump-skewerer Stephen Colbert have his show suspiciously canceled by Paramount.
After comedian Joy Behar mocked Trump's transparent jealousy of former President Barack Obama on 'The View,' the White House released a statement saying Behar "should self-reflect on her own jealousy of President Trump's historic popularity before her show is the next to be pulled off air.'
Only Trump can decide which jokes are funny, America
Do you get it, comedians and satirists of America? You shall dispense only Trump-approved humor-jokes or face the wrath of the guy 'South Park' showed stumbling naked across a desert with a teeny talking penis. You may create videos fetishizing the arrest and detention of Democrats; you may, as Trump often does, disparagingly pretend you're a transgender weightlifter; you may make jokes about alligators eating migrants. That is all hilarious. Pure comedy in Trump's MAGAmerica.
But if you joke about the president or criticize him in any humorous way – NOT FUNNY!!
And you will be held accountable. Particularly if you point out that President Trump is so thin-skinned he got mad at a cartoon.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
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