Latest news with #Stone
7NEWS
14 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
South Park skewers Trump, Paramount hours after creators sign $2.3 billion deal
Paramount announced Wednesday afternoon that the creators of South Park had agreed to produce 50 new episodes over the next five years in a deal reportedly valued at $1.5 billion (A$2.3b). Ten hours later, South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker excoriated Paramount — and aggressively skewered President Donald Trump — in the premiere episode of the Comedy Central show's 27th season. In the episode, Trump (voiced by Stone) sues the town of South Park for $5 billion after they push back on Jesus Christ's presence in their elementary school. The townspeople are prepared to fight back, but Jesus Christ (also voiced by Stone) urges them to settle. 'You guys saw what happened to CBS? Yeah, well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount,' Jesus Christ says at the episode's climax. 'Do you really want to end up like Colbert?' Paramount is under intense scrutiny for appearing to kowtow to the Trump administration ahead of a proposed blockbuster merger. Stone and Parker were clearly riffing on their corporate parent's eventful summer. On July 2, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit from Trump, who alleged that CBS' 60 Minutes had deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. CBS denied that claim. On July 17, CBS announced that it planned to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in May, calling the move 'purely a financial decision.' But many of Colbert's fans cried foul, arguing that the comedian was being penalised for his years of anti-Trump humor. Both developments came as Paramount is preparing to be sold to Skydance Media, an entertainment production and finance company headed by David Ellison, the son of Oracle mogul (and Trump ally) Larry Ellison. The corporate tie-up requires federal approval. The premiere episode, titled Sermon on the 'Mount, took aim at other satirical targets, including the supposed death of 'wokeness,' the rise of ChatGPT and the debate over Christian teachings in public schools. Trump and Paramount were the focal points, however. In one scene, 60 Minutes reports on the social unrest roiling South Park amid Trump's lawsuit. The fictional hosts of the news show are visibly nervous as they introduce the segment, going out of their way to praise the president as 'a great man.' 'We know he's probably watching,' one of the hosts says. CBS is not the only network to reach a legal settlement with Trump. ABC agreed to pay $15 million as part of a settlement with Trump a month before he took office, effectively ending a case concerning alleged defamation. Paramount's settlement with Trump has drawn more attention, though. Colbert, three days before CBS announced the end of his show, blasted the arrangement as a 'big fat bribe.' Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, also assailed the deal. Paramount owns CBS, a venerable Hollywood movie studio, a suite of cable brands (including Comedy Central) and the Paramount+ streaming platform. South Park is widely known for jabbing politicians and social trends across the ideological spectrum. But the latest episode's depiction of Trump arguably went further than usual. Stone and Parker depict Trump as a petulant child, recycling the animation style they used for Saddam Hussein in the 1999 film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. They also make profane references to the president's anatomy. Sermon on the 'Mount closes with an apparently AI-generated video of Trump wandering in a desert and removing his clothes. Paramount spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the episode.
CNBC
14 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- CNBC
'South Park' mocks Paramount's settlement with Trump after creators sign $1.5B deal
Paramount announced Wednesday afternoon that the creators of "South Park" had agreed to produce 50 new episodes over the next five years in a deal reportedly valued at $1.5 billion. Ten hours later, "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker excoriated Paramount — and aggressively skewered President Donald Trump — in the premiere episode of the Comedy Central show's 27th season. In the episode, Trump (voiced by Stone) sues the town of South Park for $5 billion after they push back on Jesus Christ's presence in their elementary school. The townspeople are prepared to fight back, but Jesus Christ (also voiced by Stone) urges them to settle. "You guys saw what happened to CBS? Yeah, well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount," Jesus Christ says at the episode's climax. "Do you really want to end up like Colbert?" Paramount is under intense scrutiny for appearing to kowtow to the Trump administration ahead of a proposed blockbuster merger. Stone and Parker were clearly riffing on their corporate parent's eventful summer. On July 2, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit from Trump, who alleged that CBS' "60 Minutes" had deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. CBS denied that claim. On July 17, CBS announced that it planned to cancel "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in May, calling the move "purely a financial decision." But many of Colbert's fans cried foul, arguing that the comedian was being penalized for his years of anti-Trump humor. Both developments came as Paramount is preparing to be sold to Skydance Media, an entertainment production and finance company headed by David Ellison, the son of Oracle mogul (and Trump ally) Larry Ellison. The corporate tie-up requires federal approval. The premiere episode, titled "Sermon on the 'Mount," took aim at other satirical targets, including the supposed death of "wokeness," the rise of ChatGPT and the debate over Christian teachings in public schools. Trump and Paramount were the focal points, however. In one scene, "60 Minutes" reports on the social unrest roiling South Park amid Trump's lawsuit. The fictional hosts of the news show are visibly nervous as they introduce the segment, going out of their way to praise the president as "a great man." "We know he's probably watching," one of the hosts says. CBS is not the only network to reach a legal settlement with Trump. ABC agreed to pay $15 million as part of a settlement with Trump a month before he took office, effectively ending a case concerning alleged defamation. Paramount's settlement with Trump has drawn more attention, though. Colbert, three days before CBS announced the end of his show, blasted the arrangement as a "big fat bribe." Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," also assailed the deal. Paramount owns CBS, a venerable Hollywood movie studio, a suite of cable brands (including Comedy Central) and the Paramount+ streaming platform. "South Park" is widely known for jabbing politicians and social trends across the ideological spectrum. But the latest episode's depiction of Trump arguably went further than usual. Stone and Parker depict Trump as a petulant child, recycling the animation style they used for Saddam Hussein in the 1999 film "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut." They also make profane references to the president's anatomy. "Sermon on the 'Mount" closes with an apparently AI-generated video of Trump wandering in a desert and removing his clothes. Paramount spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the episode.
NBC News
44 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- NBC News
'South Park' mocks Paramount's settlement with Trump after creators sign $1.5B deal
Paramount announced Wednesday afternoon that the creators of 'South Park' had agreed to produce 50 new episodes over the next five years in a deal reportedly valued at $1.5 billion. Ten hours later, 'South Park' creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker excoriated Paramount — and aggressively skewered President Donald Trump — in the premiere episode of the Comedy Central show's 27th season. In the episode, Trump (voiced by Stone) sues the town of South Park for $5 billion after they push back on Jesus Christ's presence in their elementary school. The townspeople are prepared to fight back, but Jesus Christ (also voiced by Stone) urges them to settle. 'You guys saw what happened to CBS? Yeah, well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount,' Jesus Christ says at the episode's climax. 'Do you really want to end up like Colbert?' Paramount is under intense scrutiny for appearing to kowtow to the Trump administration ahead of a proposed blockbuster merger. Stone and Parker were clearly riffing on their corporate parent's eventful summer. On July 2, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit from Trump, who alleged that CBS' '60 Minutes' had deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. CBS denied that claim. On July 17, CBS announced that it planned to cancel 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' in May, calling the move 'purely a financial decision.' But many of Colbert's fans cried foul, arguing that the comedian was being penalized for his years of anti-Trump humor. Both developments came as Paramount is preparing to be sold to Skydance Media, an entertainment production and finance company headed by David Ellison, the son of Oracle mogul (and Trump ally) Larry Ellison. The corporate tie-up requires federal approval. The premiere episode, titled 'Sermon on the 'Mount,' took aim at other satirical targets, including the supposed death of 'wokeness,' the rise of ChatGPT and the debate over Christian teachings in public schools. Trump and Paramount were the focal points, however. In one scene, '60 Minutes' reports on the social unrest roiling South Park amid Trump's lawsuit. The fictional hosts of the news show are visibly nervous as they introduce the segment, going out of their way to praise the president as 'a great man.' 'We know he's probably watching,' one of the hosts says. CBS is not the only network to reach a legal settlement with Trump. ABC agreed to pay $15 million as part of a settlement with Trump a month before he took office, effectively ending a case concerning alleged defamation. Paramount's settlement with Trump has drawn more attention, though. Colbert, three days before CBS announced the end of his show, blasted the arrangement as a 'big fat bribe.' Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show,' also assailed the deal. Paramount owns CBS, a venerable Hollywood movie studio, a suite of cable brands (including Comedy Central) and the Paramount+ streaming platform. 'South Park' is widely known for jabbing politicians and social trends across the ideological spectrum. But the latest episode's depiction of Trump arguably went further than usual. Stone and Parker depict Trump as a petulant child, recycling the animation style they used for Saddam Hussein in the 1999 film 'South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.' They also make profane references to the president's anatomy. 'Sermon on the 'Mount' closes with an apparently AI-generated video of Trump wandering in a desert and removing his clothes.
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Flipside Launches AI Platform That Delivers Real-Time Blockchain Intelligence to Combat Crypto Hype Cycles
Boston, MA, July 24th, 2025, Chainwire FlipsideAI lets anyone understand and make decisions about crypto activity across 35+ blockchains by simply asking questions in natural language, helping projects and individuals apply smarter growth strategies based on real data instead of hype. Flipside today announced the public launch of FlipsideAI, an AI-powered intelligence platform that generates growth insights and executes hyper-targeted campaigns across 35+ blockchains using proprietary address scoring data and algorithms. FlipsideAI can be easily accessed through the Flipside Model Context Protocol, or MCP, in market-leading LLMs like Claude, Gemini, and Cursor, or Flipside's own proprietary LLM chat interface. With the Flipside MCP, now anyone can analyze and act on real-time blockchain activity through natural language prompts, or vibecoding, eliminating the need to spend hours writing SQL code. Together with this launch, Flipside has also boldly retired its SQL studio, leading the industry's evolution from code-based to AI-driven products. "Understanding onchain behavior used to require a savvy analyst coding deep SQL queries," said Eric Stone, Co-Founder & Chief Data Scientist at Flipside. "Now, you can literally vibecode blockchain insights and growth strategies in minutes combined with the full power of LLM solutions using Flipside's MCP tools." Embedded with Flipside's proprietary address scoring model, FlipsideAI gives growth teams the onchain intelligence needed to design and execute sustainable growth campaigns. "The Flipside Growth MCP does much more than add an AI connector on top of static data. Our AI agents are essentially running 24/7 research sprints across the entire crypto ecosystem," explains Stone. "They're constantly learning from new transaction data, identifying behavioral shifts, and building the intelligence layer that powers instant insights through conversational AI." Growth teams can now obtain insights in seconds with prompts like: 'What are the latest trends for high-scoring users in our network?' 'Which protocols do users in our network use the most?' 'What activities create the most high-value users in our network?' FlipsideAI generated dashboard of top blockchains Equipped with these insights, crypto growth teams can readily identify who their most valuable users are, what activities are creating the most on-chain value, and directly target growth campaigns to develop more high-value users and activities. This sustainable growth approach is a stark contrast to the hype-driven, pump-and-dump cycles that are commonplace in crypto, leading to 50%+ of tokens launched since 2021 failing. Flipside has worked with 40+ protocols, including Solana, Avalanche, Near, Stellar, Aptos, and Marinade, to drive $168.3M in onchain economic activity since 2024, 128x ROI per dollar in campaign spend, and 76.2% new-to-chain user acquisition. In the first half of 2025, Avalanche leveraged Flipside to acquire 77,500 wallets, driving $5.65MM in onchain activity with 3.2X higher retention rates. 'The hardest thing for blockchain networks today is developing users that will provide value in the long-run,' says John Nahas, Chief Business Officer for Ava Labs. 'Using Flipside, we were able to pinpoint the user journey that created the most high-value users for our ecosystem and drive on-chain volume through focused activations.' Bringing Blockchain Intelligence to Millions of Crypto Users FlipsideAI also delivers highly available blockchain intelligence to everyday crypto users. Today, there are an estimated 560M blockchain users, but only a tiny fraction of those users have the technical sophistication to analyze blockchain data. Instead, decisions on which blockchain ecosystems to support and invest in are made overly based on following key opinion leaders (KOLs) and social media attention. Through the Flipside MCP, anyone can now do deep blockchain research that is currently limited to the most sophisticated analyst teams. Crypto users can better understand ecosystems, uncover cross-chain trends, and make more intelligent decisions on which networks to support and invest in. 'The same intelligence that only elite crypto projects and funds could afford is now available to anyone curious enough to ask the right questions,' said Jim Myers, Co-Founder and CTO at Flipside. 'Now individuals in the crypto ecosystem no longer need to rely on gut feel or hype-chasing to understand the right strategies and trends to follow. This will create a natural demand for more credible projects that will put crypto on a more sustainable growth path.' For a limited time during the launch period, users are invited to get access to FlipsideAI at no cost here. About Flipside Crypto Flipside Crypto powers blockchain growth through actionable, AI-driven intelligence. The platform combines cross-chain data analysis with proprietary wallet scoring algorithms to create targeted growth strategies that drive transaction volume and build long-term user retention. Flipside Crypto has partnered with industry leaders like Avalanche, NEAR, BOB, and Kraken to deliver measurable growth outcomes across the Web3 ecosystem. Founded in 2017, Flipside is backed by investors including Republic, Tribe, Galaxy, Coinbase, and True Ventures. Contact VP Marketing Brett Li
USA Today
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
All seasons of ‘South Park' have a new streaming home. Where can you watch?
The fictional Colorado town of South Park has a new streaming home. All 26 seasons of Comedy Central's sitcom, as well as the new 27th season, will move to Paramount+ in the U.S. following an exclusive 5 year licensing deal announced Wednesday, July 23. The deal includes 50 new episodes that will join streaming service the day after each one airs on Comedy Central. The "South Park" library in the U.S. was previously on HBO Max for the past five years. Since premiering in 1997, the dark comedy co-created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone has achieved long lasting success through its raunchy humor often making satirical digs about pop culture and politics. The show is more popular than ever and the creators have no plans to stop soon, according to a Paramount+ news release. Stone said in the news release that the entire creative team is grateful for the deal and look forward to making new content for the next five years. "This is about more than a contract — it's about our commitment to this organization, our teammates, and our fans. We're focused on building something special and doing whatever it takes to bring championships to this city," Parker said in the news release. The license deal between Paramount and Parker and Stone's company Park County is reportedly worth $1.5 billion, according to Deadline. The two companies' joint venture is known as South Park Digital Studios. When is 'South Park' coming to Paramount+? The first 26 seasons of "South Park" are available to stream on Paramount+. New episodes of Season 27 will stream on Paramount+ the day after airing on Comedy Central. Viewers can also stream the animated sitcom through FuboTV, Philo, Sling TV, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV or DirecTV. What time does 'South Park' Season 27 premiere? "South Park" South Park premieres on Wednesday, July 23, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central. The episode will be rebroadcasted at 11:35 p.m. ET. Watch the 'South Park' Season 27 trailer We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn't influence our coverage. Contributing: Sara Chernikoff and Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY
