Satire is dead under Donald Trump — just ask South Park.
The first episode of the animated comedy's 27th season aired Wednesday, shocking viewers with micro-penises, Jesus Christ himself, and the horrifying realization that none of this is all that far from reality.
The episode begins with Eric Cartman — the show's poster far-right sociopath — upset that the president cancelled NPR, since he can't make fun of liberals as they "bitch and whine about stuff." Everything seems different now: their politically correct principal is preaching Bible verses and inviting Jesus to speak at their school, news anchors refuse to criticize the president out of fear of getting sued, and shows keep getting cancelled or settling for ludicrous amounts of money over what they say.
Cartman quickly comes to the realization that he's just not special anymore. He declares, "Everyone hates the Jews, everyone's fine with using gay slurs ... now I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
It seems the writers of South Park are questioning their own place in the world. After all, what good is edgy humor when people are openly racist? What good is satire, the art of taking concepts to the extreme, when the country is run by extremists?
Meanwhile, the real Trump is in office. Not Garrison painted orange, or the Canadian Trump that Garrison killed in season 19, but an actual image of Trump pasted over a construction paper body. It's unclear as of now if this is Trump himself, or Saddam Hussein — who was portrayed in the same way in some earlier episodes and the 1999 movie. This new Trump has the same voice as South Park's Hussein, the same theme music, and is also in a relationship with Satan, who can't get Trump to tell him whether or not he's in the Epstein files. On top of that, characters compare Trump to a "middle-eastern dictator" multiple times.
“You haven’t been working! You’ve been doing your stupid memes and just fucking around,” Satan says while in bed with Trump.
“Come on Satan, you know you can’t resist this!” Trump says, pulling down his pants to reveal a micro-penis.
“I can’t even see anything, it’s so small," Satan responds. Trump then slaps him and threatens to sue him.
South Park is getting canceled after this lmao.
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— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) July 23, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Trump is constantly made fun of throughout the episode for having a micro-penis, and threatens to sue anyone who mentions it. Trump threatens to sue virtually everyone over anything, leading to the climax, in which the residents of South Park stage a peaceful protest against Trump and are confronted by Jesus. Jesus warns them to play it cool — since he's also being sued by Trump and made to appear in schools as part of the settlement.
“I didn’t want to come back and be in the school, but I had to because it was part of a lawsuit and the agreement with Paramount,” Jesus says. “You guys saw what happened to CBS? Well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount. You really want to end up like Colbert?If someone has the power of the presidency and also has the power to sue and take bribes, then he can do anything to anyone. It’s the fucking president, dude ... South Park is over.”
The joke directly makes fun of Paramount for its $16 million settlement in Trump's 60 Minutes lawsuit, and its decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after he called out the agreement. One of the most scathing scenes from the new episode shows a snippet of a 60 Minutes segment where the clock logo is replaced with a time bomb, and the terrified hosts make sure to condemn the peaceful protest as they cover it.
South Park went after CBS and Paramount too.
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— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) July 24, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Paramount has faced widespread condemnation and even boycotts for agreeing to pay Trump the sum, which has been speculated to be appeasement so his administration approves the company's $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. Colbert's show was cancelled just days after he made fun of the settlement, with Paramount claiming the decision was financial rather than retaliatory.
The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, recently reached a $1.5 billion streaming agreement with Paramount+ after a months-long bidding war, which includes releasing 50 new episodes on the platform. The debut of season 27 was pushed back from July 9 due to contract negotiations, as rumors circulated online that over a dozen episodes had been banned due to their content and would not be available on Paramount+.
Parker and Stone have explicitly expressed dissatisfaction with the planned merger, writing online, “This merger is a shitshow and it’s fucking up South Park. We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow.”
Back in the episode, Trump sues anyways, and demands billions of dollars from "South Park" — purposefully using the name in a way that could be referencing the town or the show. "South Park" instead settles for a few million, with the residents nervously declaring it a fair amount even if they have to "cut some funding for our schools, and hospitals, and roads." As part of the settlement, "South Park" must also air pro-Trump advertisements.
The episode ends with what it calls "Pro-Trump PSA 01 of 50," a nod to the 50 new episodes on Paramount+, which features an even heavier-set live action Trump stripping as he wanders through the desert, eventually showing a googly-eyed micro-penis. The advertisement concludes with the statement, "Trump. His penis is teeny-tiny, but his love for us is large."
This is Parker and Stone's declaration: South Park will not pull its punches out of fear of being sued, even if other voices in media — and its own platform — will. South Park will not censor itself to appease Trump, because nothing can appease him.
Apart from Jesus and Satan showing up, everything that happens in the new episode is actually happening in real life. It's comedy, but it's hardly satire. Instead, Parker and Stone's refusal to obey in advance is a rallying call for other media figures: When they go low, we must go lower.
Charlie Kirk DID say stoning gay people was the 'perfect law' — and these other heinous quotes