In the Season 27 premiere of South Park, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone did a lot, but perhaps the most important thing they did was remember what punching up looks like. Taking aim at President Trump in a way that seems actively tailored to piss the current administration off, “Sermon on the ‘Mount” plays like a direct dare to Paramount to cancel the show, or for our government to make Parker and Stone’s lives very unpleasant the next time they try to go through airport security. And by doing so, the pair have created a piece of subversive political art that feels like a true reflection of today.
To make sure the most sensitive of liberals don’t feel too touchy-feely about what’s to come, the episode opens with Cartman furious that NPR, his favorite comedy about the woes of the world, has been cancelled — not only that, but it’s the final death knell for the concept of “woke,” and he’s devastated by it. Also, Jesus is back in the schools, bringing (amongst other things) a message of warning about creating subversive comedy exactly like the show we’re watching.
But the real meat of the episode is just vignettes about Trump, as the show goes harder on him than it did on Saddam Hussein: animating his face like a Canadian, depicting him and Satan as lovers, and repeatedly showing the sitting President’s tiny pee-pee. And that’s before the airing of an AI-generated “pro-Trump” PSA which ends the episode, in which an increasingly naked Trump wanders the desert for our sins before collapsing on his back — a tiny penis puppet emerging to declare that he approves this message.
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While South Park episodes premiere on Comedy Central first (no simultaneous streaming available on Paramount+), Parker and Stone wanted to make sure that the PSA would be available immediately for everyone regardless of cable subscription: Hence the reveal of the HeTrumpedUs.com URL at the end, bringing you to a landing page for the YouTube embed. You still have to watch the video on YouTube due to its mature content, but directly releasing the PSA to the internet is the real exclamation point on their message — as well as an insurance policy against any post-premiere censorship.
Who knows how Andrew Jackson would have reacted to an episode making fun of him like this, but certainly our most thin-skinned modern President like this will have some ranting to do on Truth Social. It’s the kind of move you make after signing a $1.5 billion deal for the show’s ongoing streaming rights — a deal that Paramount signed at the same time it cancelled the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and promised the FCC that it would get rid of its DEI programs. Oh, and you can’t forget the the $16 million 60 Minutes settlement that Colbert called “a big fat bribe” — just days before his cancellation notice came in.
South Park was supposed to premiere on July 9th, a date that got pushed to this week for reasons that the team claimed were due to the ongoing Skydance merger. But their statement was vague on specifics as to why that was. It’s pure speculation to suggest that a factor in the delay was that Parker and Stone wanted their streaming deal locked down before the season premiere aired. But it would make sense.
Everyone might have their own definition for the minimum idea of “fuck it” money, but $1.5 billion feels like it definitely qualifies. (Especially on top of the already ridiculous amount of money Stone and Parker have made since their humble animated series became a global phenomenon.) It’d be fascinating to know how that deal was structured — and what kinds of protections are in place when it comes to the show’s ability to mock whoever they want, whenever they want.
One criticism that’s dogged Parker and Stone in recent years is that their extreme financial success has perhaps made them unable to deliver the same level of scathing commentary that they have in the past. But it seems like this moment in history has put some extra fuel in their tank, fuel they’re ready to burn, especially as their money and success gives them power and safety in what feels like an increasingly unsafe time. This is their “fuck it” moment, and the season premiere guarantees we’ll be paying attention to what comes next. It was crass, brutal, and exactly what 2025 deserves.
South Park is streaming now on Paramount+.