“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone announced that the long-running comedy show will premier its next season with a new name, one which appears to be another elaborate joke made at President Donald Trump’s expense.
“Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google,” Parker and Stone said in a statement Tuesday, “we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA.”
The mock-rebrand comes after Trump issued a series of directives and executive orders to rename geographic landmarks, notably changing Lake Ontario to Lake America and the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Apple and Google quickly complied, updating their map apps to reflect the new names.
On Labor Day morning, Trump published seven posts to his Truth Social page in a few minutes’ span proposing New Mexico change its name to “New America.”
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“South Park” frequently satirizes the president, notably depicting Trump in a sexual relationship with the devil. The White House returned fire last year, saying the show “hasn’t been relevant in 20 years.”
In their news release, Parker and Stone also gave “special thanks” to their parent company Paramount, which they dubbed “a Skydance Capitulation” in a nod to the company’s recent merger with Skydance, which is owned by Trump superdonor Larry Ellison.
The two often joke about their tense relationship with the company, and have openly mocked their bosses for repeatedly rolling over to political pressure by canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and reportedly altering CBS News programming to appease the Trump administration.
“South Park” has so far survived scrutiny from Paramount, in large part due to its unusual streaming deal that keeps creative autonomy in the hands of Stone and Parker.
The 29th season of “South Park” — or “South America” — premieres Sept. 16.
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