“South Park” is widely known for satirizing politicians and American society across the ideological spectrum, but the premiere of season 27 this Wednesday, featuring Donald Trump in a series of provocative scenes, including one completely naked, went beyond the usual, generating an angry response from the White House.
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The criticism also included Paramount for the recent agreement to pay $16 million to the President of the United States in order to avoid a lawsuit over a segment on “60 Minutes” on CBS and for the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s late show.
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The curious thing is that on that Wednesday, the creators of “South Park,” Matt Stone and Trey Parker, reached an agreement with Paramount to produce 50 new episodes over the next five years for Comedy Central, a contract valued at 1.5 billion dollars, according to various sources.
How was the controversial episode of “South Park”?
In one of the most controversial scenes of the episode, Trump is portrayed in his White House bedroom undressing and getting into bed with Satan. The latter rejects him and alludes to the Jeffrey Epstein case, asking him if he really appears on the sexual criminal’s contact list. Satan says to him, “Are you on the list or not? It’s strange that every time the subject comes up, you just tell everyone to relax.”
Then Trump responds to a protest at South Park Elementary School, where the residents question the presence of Jesus back in schools, and the president responds by suing the town for 5 billion dollars. The scene is further satirized when the protests are covered by the “60 Minutes” program, whose hosts are visibly concerned about possible legal reprisals from the president, referencing previous conflicts between Trump and CBS.
There appears Jesus and although initially seems to support the protesters, his true intention is to warn them about the consequences of their act. “South Park could be canceled if they don’t stop the protest,” he tells them and then reminds them: “Did you see what happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS: Paramount. Do you really want to end up like Colbert?”.
Faced with this symbolic threat, the inhabitants of the town choose to give in to the president and reach an agreement, which includes producing a series of messages in favor of Trump.
So, the final moments of the episode consist of a propaganda montage where a video generated by artificial intelligence of Trump walking disoriented through the desert while stripping off all his clothes. A voice-over announces: “When things get tough, who will deliver us from temptation? Donald J. Trump. No matter how hot things get, he’s not afraid to fight for the United States.” The video ends with a scene of the president taking off his pants, followed by the slogan: “Trump. His penis is teeny-tiny, but his love for us is large.”
The White House responds harshly
In some media outlets, the White House issued a critical statement. Deputy Press Secretary Taylor Rogers said, “The left’s hypocrisy truly knows no bounds, for years they have attacked ‘South Park’ for its ‘offensive’ content, but suddenly they are praising the show.”
Rogers added a Trump-style comment and said that “this program has not been relevant for over 20 years and is barely hanging on with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention.”
The controversies that complicate Paramount
Last week, in his particular and applauded sarcastic style, Stephen Colbert criticized Paramount for reaching a $16 million agreement with Trump in exchange for the president dropping a lawsuit against CBS over a story about Kamala Harris during the presidential campaign.
Colbert described the agreement as “a big, fat bribe,” as the goal would be to please the Trump administration in order to approve the sale of Paramount to Skydance Media.
Three days later, CBS made the surprising and controversial decision to cancel the successful program “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert, a move that was applauded by Trump.