The US President does not appear to think a new episode of South Park – featuring himself in bed with the devil – is very funny
SEATTLE – Humour is very much a personal thing.
But it’s a safe bet that Donald Trump would not have appreciated the latest episode of South Park featuring the President suing the fictional town after residents decide to challenge the presence of Jesus in the primary school.
The advice of Jesus is that the town ought to settle.
“You guys saw what happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount,” he says. “Do you really want to end up like Colbert?”
The premiere of the animated sitcom’s 27th season came just days after Paramount Global, which owns the rights to South Park, agreed to pay $16m (£12m) to Trump to settle a legal dispute involving an interview its news subsidiary CBS did with Trump’s Democrat election rival Kamala Harris.
It also followed a controversial decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where for 11 years its host had poked fun at the rich and powerful, including the thin-skinned current President.
Paramount claimed that the decision was made purely for “financial reasons”, but it came against the backdrop of a massive $8bn (£6bn) merger between Paramount and Skydance Media. The deal needed approval from the US Federal Communications Commission.
Confirmation that the 79-year-old Trump did not think the episode was funny came in a statement from White House spokesman Taylor Rogers, who said: “This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention.”
He added: “President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country’s history – and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak.”
On Thursday, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were asked about the episode. Parker delivered a brief, deadpan response: “We’re terribly sorry.”
To the delight of South Park fans, the irreverent episode was broadcast just hours after it was confirmed Parker and Stone had signed a five-year deal worth a reported $1.5bn (£1.1bn) to produce 50 new episodes.
The episode’s spiky defiance took place in an environment where many believe some in the media are pulling their punches to try and appease Trump for financial reasons. Some have termed it “pre-capitulation”.
Paramount made its payout to Trump after he sued CBS News and accused it of deceptively editing an interview with the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Harris in its flagship 60 Minutes show.
CBS denied the claim. Veteran producer Bill Owens resigned saying “it has also become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it”.
Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley referred to the incident when he spoke to students at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. “In this moment - the moment, this morning – our sacred rule of law is under attack,” he said. “Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack.”
Others have pointed to the decision by ABC News to pay $15m (£11m) for Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit after an anchor wrongly said Trump had been found liable under civil law for the rape of the writer E Jean Carroll.
While the court did not reach the conclusion that Trump’s actions met the definition of rape under New York law, he was found liable of sexual assault and ordered to pay just under $90m (£67m) to the writer.
Many expected ABC News would fight the case from last December, but in the end it chose to settle, possibly under pressure from parent company Disney. “This problem needed to go away,” an ABC executive told CNN.
Then there is the matter of Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, which still carries the strap-line “Democracy Dies in Darkness”.
Many believe the newspaper did a solid job during Trump’s first term, but more recently it has toned down critical coverage under the direction of Bezos who seems worried about his interests.
Shortly before the November 2024 election the newspaper pulled a planned endorsement of Harris. A few months later Bezos, whose Blue Origin space company is seeking government contracts, contributed to Trump’s inauguration fund and appeared among several tech executives close to Trump.
Even before Trump had entered the Oval Office, it was announced that Amazon would pay $40m (£30m) for a documentary about Melania Trump.
In February, Bezos announced that the paper’s opinion section would only publish pieces about “personal liberties and free markets” – and articles opposing those views would not be published. The paper’s opinion editor, David Shipley, promptly resigned.
In his most recent spat with the media, Trump is suing The Wall Street Journal after it published details of what it said was a bawdy message to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In recent weeks, controversy has grown over the government’s refusal to publish all the files, as well as claims that Trump was told earlier this year that his name was mentioned in them.
Trump has rejected any wrongdoing. Nevertheless it’s likely he would not have appreciated the South Park segment where the devil appears and tells the President he is “not in the mood right now” because someone said he was mentioned in the Epstein files.
“Are you on the list or not?” asks the devil. “It’s weird that whenever it comes up, you just tell everyone to relax.”
