What does it say about America that the only people taking on President Trump on his own terms — which is to say, in the gutter — are two bad-boy cartoonists?
In its 27th season opener this week, titled “The Sermon on the Mount,” the Paramount Plus animated show “South Park” provided by far the most comprehensive and trenchant critique of Trump’s first six months back in office.
The episode, which includes both Jesus and Satan as characters, brutally and hilariously takes on Trump’s laundry list of fixations: NPR, bathrooms, electric cars, returning Christianity to public schools, tariffs, “wokeness,” “60 Minutes” and Stephen Colbert. Characters also denounce Trump for looting the country for personal benefit (“putting money in his own pockets”) and ruling through fear and lawsuits.
In its first return volley after viewing advanced episode clips, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers dismissed “South Park” as a “fourth-rate show” that “hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread.”
Series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone replied to the criticism with typical puckishness. On Thursday, appearing on an animation panel at Comic-Con in San Diego, Parker was asked his reaction to the controversy. “We’re terribly sorry,” he deadpanned.
If past experience holds, we may hear more about this from the nation’s number one amateur TV critic (and slashing Queens street-fighter), and it won’t likely be pretty.
On Thursday, after 250 days of suspicious foot-dragging, the Federal Communications Commission voted 2 to 1 to approve the $8 billion merger of Skydance Media and Paramount Global, corporate parent of CBS. Many believed the approval was delayed to force the network into settling Trump’s lawsuit against “60 Minutes” for $16 million, litigation which many legal and media figures considered to be without merit.
But Parker and Stone have a benefit not afforded to other Trump media critics. Unlike Colbert and “The Late Show,” their show makes money for Paramount. Just days before the “South Park” season opener, the pair signed a five-year contract with the studio for $1.5 billion — yes, you read that right, with a “b” — for 10 episodes per season.
