Paramount Settled With Trump. Its Shows Are Skewering Him.
Just a few weeks after Paramount settled a lawsuit with President Trump, and less than a week after the company made the abrupt decision to cancel 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,' some of the company's marquee names have been using their Paramount platforms to attack their corporate bosses — as well as the president.
In the season premiere of the animated Comedy Central franchise 'South Park' on Wednesday night, a character portraying Jesus Christ visited the show's elementary school before revealing why he was really there: Mr. Trump had sent him 'because it was part of a lawsuit and the agreement with Paramount.'
'You guys saw what happened to CBS?' the character said. 'Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount! You really want to end up like Colbert? You guys got to stop being stupid. Just shut up, or we're going to get canceled, you idiots!'
The episode also featured various terrified correspondents at CBS's '60 Minutes,' whose interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris was at the center of Mr. Trump's suit. The correspondents on 'South Park' praised Mr. Trump.
Making the episode more remarkable was that it aired just hours after Paramount and Comedy Central announced a new deal with Park County, the production studio run by the creators of 'South Park,' Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The deal will pay Park County at least $1.25 billion over five years, two people with knowledge of the arrangement said.
Wednesday's 22-minute 'South Park' episode also included withering criticisms of the president. In one scene, Mr. Trump becomes enraged with a painter after checking on the progress of a nude portrait of himself. Later, he is shown in bed with Satan discussing Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced former financier.
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