FILM CORNER: Trump Too Sensitive to South Park’s Season Premiere

Last Wednesday, the adult-aimed animated television show, South Park, aired its premiere episode for its 27th season after a long hiatus due to both Paramount+ and HBO Max fighting over streaming rights for the series, with the exception of the exclusive specials and the 1999 movie which Paramount+ had all the rights for.

The episode, titled “Sermon on the ‘Mount,” was a hit with many viewers who waited patiently for it, and there was one major plot element that caused the headlines for numerous news organizations and blog sites to go crazy. The episode contained a full-out roast of President Trump as he is portrayed as a high-pitch loudmouth with a flappy head like that of the portrayal of Canadians in the series, but the satire went even further by having him be similar to the show’s original satirical portrayal of Saddam Hussein.

From having pictures of the President’s actual face being used to having him be a lover of Satan himself, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as I had fond memories of their satirical take of the deceased former dictator of Iraq. Of course, this portrayal caught the attention of Trump to where he had his Assistant Press Secretary issue a statement for him calling the show both irrelevant and fourth-rate while trying to use the President’s “successes” as a weak defense against it.

Now, I don’t know about you, but it seems that the Trump administration doesn’t clearly watch the show as both Matt Stone and Trey Parker have parodied Trump in previous episodes. The first time was in the Season 19 episode, “Where My Country Gone?,” where they had a Canadian “President” that was a what-if version of Trump being in power who was shortly killed off by the character, Mr. Garrison, at the end of the episode before he literally became the show’s in-universe parody of Trump from the following episode up to the Season 26 episode, “Spring Break.” Ironically, you would think Trump supporters or even Trump himself would’ve reacted very negatively to the fact that the show had a gay character who was formally a trans-woman being the Donald Trump of South Park.

Along with the announcement by the Trump administration, many people who are Trump supporters bashed the show for being offensive to the President, but they don’t really realize that both of the creators of the show, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have never pulled their punches for anyone or anything throughout its near 28 year run. And they are very unapologetic about it. Even Trey Parker’s “apology” at San Diego Comic Con was done in a deadpan manner as it is his way of saying “I honestly don’t care what Trump thinks. He can keep crying about it for all I care.”

It’s honestly funny that Trump has become the first sitting President to criticize the show for being offensive against him. The show clearly made fun of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and even Joe Biden, and none of them have released a statement against the show during their presidencies. They more than likely didn’t care if the show made fun of them the way it did as, just like Trump himself, they are public personas, and public personas are the most satirized element in satirical media.

All Trump can do is continue to show that he can be easily offended by his portrayal on South Park just as much as Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lopez, and even Kanye West who still doesn’t get the Fishsticks joke.