The White House has accused the cartoon of chasing attention amid slipping relevance
Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park, has offered a brief apology for the show’s scathing recent depiction of US President Donald Trump. Wednesday’s season premiere portrayed him with a tiny penis in bed with Satan.
Parker made the statement at the San Diego Comic-Con International on Thursday, on stage alongside his co-creator Matt Stone.
“We’re terribly sorry,” Parker said, making the audience laugh.
Earlier in the day, the White House had criticized Wednesday’s South Park episode – which portrayed Trump with his actual photo on an animated body – as a “desperate attempt for attention.”
“This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement shared with the media on Thursday.
“President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country’s history – and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak,” she added.
According to Parker, the producers attempted to tone the episode down the day before it aired.
“They said, ‘OK, but we’re gonna blur the penis,’ and I said, ‘No, you’re not gonna blur the penis,’” he explained.
The episode also mocked Paramount, referencing its recent $16 million settlement with Trump and the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show. Earlier this week, Parker and Stone signed a massive five-year, $1.5 billion deal that would bring their show to Paramount’s streaming service, according to Forbes.
In the episode, Jesus Christ – who is a character in the show – urges the people of South Park to settle after Trump sues the town, warning that they could also be canceled.
“You guys saw what happened to CBS? Yeah, well, guess who owns CBS? Paramount,” he says. “Do you really want to end up like Colbert?”
CBS confirmed that it would axe The Late Show by next May. The Writers Guild of America has since accused the company of acting “in bad faith due to political pressure” from Trump, who sued the network over alleged media bias over last year’s election coverage.
