‘South Park' premiere skewers Trump and Paramount in fiery return
'South Park' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone brought their show back with a vengeance on Wednesday, in an episode that took swings at both the parent company of the network that airs their popular animated series and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The delayed Season 27 premiere of the satirical show revolved around the ending of 'wokeness' and a Trump character suing residents of South Park for US$5 billion after they protest Jesus appearing in local schools.
'I didn't want to come back and be in the school, but I had to because it was part of a lawsuit and the agreement with Paramount,' the Jesus character says, referencing Comedy Central's parent company and litigation around its pending sale.
'You guys saw what happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount. You really want to end up like Colbert? You guys got to stop being stupid,' Jesus continues, before referencing the Trump character. 'He also has the power to sue and take bribes and he can do anything to anyone. It's the f**king president, dude… South Park is over.'
The town agrees to settle and produce pro-Trump PSAs.
The Trump character is portrayed as a sensitive bully who threatens to tariff or sue anyone who disagrees with him in the episode. Never a show to shy away from controversy, one scene superimposes a photo of the president over animation, depicting Trump in bed with Satan.
'It's weird that whenever it comes up, you just tell everyone to relax,' the Satan character tells the Trump character about the Epstein case.
Longtime 'South Park' viewers will remember that the creators did something similar in 1999, when they depicted Saddam Hussein in a relationship with Satan. Wednesday's episode includes Satan telling the Trump character that he reminds him of a guy he used to date.
Just weeks ago, Parker and Stone expressed their dissatisfaction about the planned acquisition of Paramount Global by Skydance Media and its impact on their contract negotiations.
'This merger is a s**tshow and it's f**king up South Park,' the two wrote in a post shared on social media. 'We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow.'
The season premiere this week coincided with an announcement that the two creators had reached a $1.5 billion deal to stream all 'South Park' episodes on Paramount+ with an order for 50 more episodes to air on Comedy Central.
A person familiar with the matter confirmed the $1.5 billion valuation for the 'South Park' streaming deal to CNN.
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
CNN's Brian Stelter contributed to this report
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