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Thursday, November 27, 2025
South Park Creators Explain Trump Attacks: Politics Is Pop Culture Now
variety.com: “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker recently spoke to The New York Times about their decision to turn the latest episodes of their Comedy Central series into full blown Donald Trump takedowns. The show has been criticizing MAGA nonstop in Seasons 27 and 28
6 comments:
Maxwell Hamilton
said...
It makes me really upset that South Park is under fire by the current administration and media outlets. South Park has been doing this for years. They've made fun of almost every single president that South Part existed under, and to say that they've been specifically targeted to slander the president. Like that's all political figures to other political figures. You can't prevent slander, it's just what's going to happen? Why can a TV show not make fun of the president. But The president can make fun of other presidents? That doesn't seem remotely fair. It really just shows the level of control that the current administration is attempting to employ over entertainment, and it makes me really happy to see them fighting back. Maybe they shouldn't have picked a fight with a cartoon that is willing to so blatantly make fun of everything that the president stands for. I really hope they don't find a way to censor. But I believe that it's possible that South Park is attempting to bait a lawsuit here.
Reading this article is making me really wanna watch South Park again. I watched most of the series awhile back so I was kinda bored of it after watching so much. I think it’s pretty smart to use Donald Trump as their “new taboo.” Regardless if people like him or not, the show is known for making fun of anything happening in the world. Personally, I have always loved their political jokes, I don’t know how they tend to just do them right. Which is why I wanna go back to watching the show if they’re using Trump again. Either way, their reasoning makes sense. Anywhere you look on social media it’s almost all politics now, and it tends to be so negative. I think it’s good that they use politics has their “taboo,” it allows people to laugh and not worry so much about the negativity for a brief moment.
This is a very interesting article because while I believe art is always in some way political, pop culture is less certainly political. It’s always impacted by culture, societal structures, and then of course policies, but mainstream pop culture entertainment exhibits blatant political commentary less often than other art forms. That is why I really appreciate South Park. They’ve never been afraid to go full throttle with political commentary and defy expectations of what entertainment, especially cartoons, should be. I think we need more independent creators of pop culture like Matt Stone and Trey Parker who are less beholden to network corporations than other entertainment companies. Having a perspective that is at times a little unruly is honestly really productive for society in many ways. I applaud the South Park creators for continuing to do what they’ve always done, and even ramp it up, even while under fire from an increasingly totalitarian regime.
Southpark is a pop culture show much like the Simpsons. They have always been one to poke fun at what is happening politically. I mean they have poked fun at President Bush, Obama, and more. Yet the only administration that has had a response where shows have been canceled or threatened to lose funding or argue as irrelevant is happening now. I think this is something that should raise concern because South Park is doing nothing different then what they have been doing for decades. Yet we are witnessing a political attack on a bunch of cartoonists; who are just expressing a perspective on what is happening politically. I mean they joked that Bush did 9/11, Trump sleeping with the devil is exactly the kind of joke I would expect to come out of the creators of Southpark. The only odd thing here is the Trump administration's responses to the episodes aired.
I get so irritated when people complain about how "political" a lot of these comedy shows have gotten. In my opinion, the truth is that they have always been political. They just started punching up more instead of punching down. Yes, a lot of political satire and comedy has always made fun of people, and no one likes to be made fun of. But it's just so funny to see who the real snowflakes are these days. In this political climate things are so absurd, and crazy, and evil that it would be almost insane to not make politically comedic comments on it. It would be hypocritical for a tv show that focuses on pop culture to ignore politics because as this article has already stated, pop culture has become politics now. With the circus that the white house currently is, and the lack of professionalism from elected officials not only with each other but with their work, these clowns have really done it to themselves.
The creators of South Park are exactly right in their claim that politics is unavoidable in pop culture at this moment. Therefore, I find myself agreeing with them that comedy and humor are sometimes necessary means of acknowledging it. While South Park directly critiques and throws jabs at the Trump Administration, it’s not like other popular figures or media aren’t doing the same in the opposite direction. It’s not like our current state of affairs is more ridiculous than the scenarios South Park illustrates, in fact, sometimes the reality goes further in the absurd direction. The prevalence of South Park is further highlighted by the ironic statement from the President that tghe show “hasn’t been relative in 20 years”, acknowledging the show’s relevance in that mere statement itself. I hope to see more shows take a stand like South Park has been with their current season.
6 comments:
It makes me really upset that South Park is under fire by the current administration and media outlets. South Park has been doing this for years. They've made fun of almost every single president that South Part existed under, and to say that they've been specifically targeted to slander the president. Like that's all political figures to other political figures. You can't prevent slander, it's just what's going to happen? Why can a TV show not make fun of the president. But The president can make fun of other presidents? That doesn't seem remotely fair. It really just shows the level of control that the current administration is attempting to employ over entertainment, and it makes me really happy to see them fighting back. Maybe they shouldn't have picked a fight with a cartoon that is willing to so blatantly make fun of everything that the president stands for. I really hope they don't find a way to censor. But I believe that it's possible that South Park is attempting to bait a lawsuit here.
Reading this article is making me really wanna watch South Park again. I watched most of the series awhile back so I was kinda bored of it after watching so much. I think it’s pretty smart to use Donald Trump as their “new taboo.” Regardless if people like him or not, the show is known for making fun of anything happening in the world. Personally, I have always loved their political jokes, I don’t know how they tend to just do them right. Which is why I wanna go back to watching the show if they’re using Trump again. Either way, their reasoning makes sense. Anywhere you look on social media it’s almost all politics now, and it tends to be so negative. I think it’s good that they use politics has their “taboo,” it allows people to laugh and not worry so much about the negativity for a brief moment.
This is a very interesting article because while I believe art is always in some way political, pop culture is less certainly political. It’s always impacted by culture, societal structures, and then of course policies, but mainstream pop culture entertainment exhibits blatant political commentary less often than other art forms. That is why I really appreciate South Park. They’ve never been afraid to go full throttle with political commentary and defy expectations of what entertainment, especially cartoons, should be. I think we need more independent creators of pop culture like Matt Stone and Trey Parker who are less beholden to network corporations than other entertainment companies. Having a perspective that is at times a little unruly is honestly really productive for society in many ways. I applaud the South Park creators for continuing to do what they’ve always done, and even ramp it up, even while under fire from an increasingly totalitarian regime.
Southpark is a pop culture show much like the Simpsons. They have always been one to poke fun at what is happening politically. I mean they have poked fun at President Bush, Obama, and more. Yet the only administration that has had a response where shows have been canceled or threatened to lose funding or argue as irrelevant is happening now. I think this is something that should raise concern because South Park is doing nothing different then what they have been doing for decades. Yet we are witnessing a political attack on a bunch of cartoonists; who are just expressing a perspective on what is happening politically. I mean they joked that Bush did 9/11, Trump sleeping with the devil is exactly the kind of joke I would expect to come out of the creators of Southpark. The only odd thing here is the Trump administration's responses to the episodes aired.
I get so irritated when people complain about how "political" a lot of these comedy shows have gotten. In my opinion, the truth is that they have always been political. They just started punching up more instead of punching down. Yes, a lot of political satire and comedy has always made fun of people, and no one likes to be made fun of. But it's just so funny to see who the real snowflakes are these days. In this political climate things are so absurd, and crazy, and evil that it would be almost insane to not make politically comedic comments on it. It would be hypocritical for a tv show that focuses on pop culture to ignore politics because as this article has already stated, pop culture has become politics now. With the circus that the white house currently is, and the lack of professionalism from elected officials not only with each other but with their work, these clowns have really done it to themselves.
The creators of South Park are exactly right in their claim that politics is unavoidable in pop culture at this moment. Therefore, I find myself agreeing with them that comedy and humor are sometimes necessary means of acknowledging it. While South Park directly critiques and throws jabs at the Trump Administration, it’s not like other popular figures or media aren’t doing the same in the opposite direction. It’s not like our current state of affairs is more ridiculous than the scenarios South Park illustrates, in fact, sometimes the reality goes further in the absurd direction. The prevalence of South Park is further highlighted by the ironic statement from the President that tghe show “hasn’t been relative in 20 years”, acknowledging the show’s relevance in that mere statement itself. I hope to see more shows take a stand like South Park has been with their current season.
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