If you just watched the latest episode of “South Park” you might be surprised by the title of this article. So, just to be clear, we’ll let you know that show co-creator Trey Parker “apologized” sarcastically.
“We’re terribly sorry,” Parker said at Comedy Central’s Comic-Con animation panel Thursday while sitting next to co-creator Matt Stone, according to USA Today. It said Parker had a “sly grin” on his face as he said it.
Obviously, Parker and Stone aren’t actually too regretful about the episode. The “South Park” Facebook page was promoting it Friday with a post captioned: “Jesus shows up just in time to save the town of South Park.”
We’ll get into what Jesus has to do with things in a moment. Warning: spoilers ahead!
“Sermon on the Mount” is the first episode of the Cartoon Network show’s 27th season, and it focuses on the characters’ responses to the end of “woke” and the policies of the president. In a throwback to the depiction of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein early seasons and the 1999 film “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut”, the episode features actual photos of President Donald Trump’s face on the president character.
Typically, characters on the show are drawn to look like paper cutouts, so the photorealistic ones (Mel Gibson also got this treatment in the 2004 episode “The Passion of the Jew”) tend to stand out. Additionally, the president is shown to be in a romantic relationship with Satan, often shown naked in bed with him. Hussein, who died in 2006, was also depicted as Satan’s boyfriend on “South Park”.
“You remind me more and more of this other guy I used to date. Like, a lot. Like, you guys are exactly alike,” Satan tells the president as they lay in bed together during one scene.
“What are you, some kind of dictator from the Middle East?” asks the Canadian Prime Minister character in another scene.
“Relax, guys! I’m just your average Joe, take a rest!” the president character says in response. He also threatens to sue Satan for telling him he has a small penis, and threatens to sue the entire town of South Park for protesting.
“Nobody makes fun of me and gets away with it,” the character tells his portrait artist.
In real life, Trump has recently made headlines for suing CBS News, which resulted in the company paying $16 million to settle, and more recently, The Wall Street Journal for a claim that he sent disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a “bawdy” birthday message in 2003. Parker and Stone also directly reference the ongoing Epstein controversy plaguing the Trump administration.
“Another random b***h commented on my Instagram that you’re on the Epstein list,” Satan tells the president character, later adding: “Are you still on the list or not? It’s weird that whenever it comes up you just tell everyone to relax.”
Eventually, Jesus reveals that he came down to the South Park school due the terms of a lawsuit, and tells the protesting residents out of the side of his mouth: “Do you want to end up like Colbert? You guys gotta stop being stupid,” referring to the recent cancellation of “The Late Show” hosted by Stephen Colbert on CBS. There has been speculation that the show was canceled as part of the merger of Paramount (also the parent company of Comedy Central) and Skydance Media.
“The merger is a s**t show,” said the “South Park” X account in a July 2 post.
In the latest episode, South Park residents decide to settle their lawsuit with the president for $3.5 million and agree to make pro-Trump messaging. That comes in the form a of a deepfake-assisted segment at the end of the episode that features a nude depiction of Trump and a talking penis.
Since its debut in 1997, “South Park” has courted a fair amount of controversy – ruffling feathers from the Catholic Church all the way to the Church of Scientology. However, USA Today said “Sermon on the Mount” might be one of its most controversial episodes ever.
“The Left’s hypocrisy truly has no end – for years they have come after ‘South Park’ for what they labeled as ‘offense’ content, but suddenly they are praising the show,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement about the show provided to Variety. “Just like the creators of ‘South Park,’ the Left has no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows.”
According to USA Today, Rogers also called “South Park” a “fourth-rate show” that “hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years.”
Forbes reported this week that Parker and Stone agreed Monday to a five-year, $1.5 billion streaming deal that brings “South Park” to Paramount+ globally and makes the duo the highest-paid showrunners in Hollywood. Now, both are worth an estimated $1.2 billion each.
As for lawsuits, when Comic-Con panel moderator Josh Horowitz joked that he had a subpoena with him, Parker said: “It’s fine; we’re ready.”