The creators of South Park are defending their decision to make Donald Trump and his administration the primary target of recent episodes, arguing it’s not about getting political, it’s about following pop culture.
In seasons 27 and 28, which started airing in July, South Park has maintained its aggressive satirical stance towards Trump.
Episodes have depicted a relationship between Trump and Satan, featured parodies of United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Vice President JD Vance, as well as cameos from Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook who bribed the show’s fictional president whilst delivering pointed dialogue about Trump’s perceived insecurities, among many other MAGA critiques.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Matt Stone and Trey Parker discussed why they are focused almost exclusively on MAGA.
“It’s not that we got all political. It’s that politics became pop culture,” Parker told The Times, noting that regular conversations took place about returning South Park to its usual hijinks but “there’s no getting away from [MAGA]”.
“It’s like the government is just in your face everywhere you look,” he explained. “Whether it’s the actual government or whether it is all the podcasters and the TikToks and the YouTubes and all of that, and it’s just all political and political because it’s more than political. It’s pop culture.”
The duo were adamant this has always been the spirit of the Comedy Central series, with Parker adding: “We just had to show our independence somehow.”
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A White House spokesperson has slammed the episodes, saying in a statement after the Season 27 premiere in July that South Park has “no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows”.
Per Variety, what’s most noticeable about the recent seasons’ MAGA criticisms is the timing — it’s all happening as David Ellison, who has been building a relationship with Trump, completes his takeover of Paramount, Comedy Central’s parent company. But according to Stone, the new Paramount leadership has remained hands-off.
“I know with the Colbert thing and all the Trump stuff, people think certain things, but they’re letting us do whatever we want, to their credit,” he said.
South Park continues its 28th season through December 10 on Comedy Central.
