South Park's Creators Reacted To Season 27's Delay (And They Didn't Mince Words)

Comedy Central has announced that season 27 of "South Park" is getting delayed two weeks and is now going to be released on July 23, 2025. It's not that long of a delay, considering viewers haven't gotten a single new episode of "South Park" since 2023 (not counting the single "special" episode that dropped in 2024). Still, the delay is bad news, if not as bad as Kenny dying an absurd number of times. Now, however, the situation has gotten dicey, with the official "South Park" social media account having shared a, well, very "South Park" statement from creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

"This merger is a s*** show and it's f***ing up 'South Park.' We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow,'" the statement reads.

Specifically, Parker and Stone's statement is referencing the proposed merger between Comedy Central's parent company Paramount Global and Skydance Media, which was inked last year but has yet to fully close. Now, Parker and Stone's response absolutely rules. This is a very "South Park" reaction, a bridge-burning, no-nonsense, filter-off comment we rarely see from creators. (For a very tonally different shot at executives, watch the response from the creators of "The Tiny Chef Show" to their series getting canceled.)

But there is a lot more here than just Parker and Stone being mad at Comedy Central, because this statement is but the latest chapter in a long fight between the duo and Paramount. Let's go back to the very beginning. It all started back in 2007 with the establishment of South Park Digital Studios, a partnership between Paramount (which owns Comedy Central) and Parker and Stone. The plan was for the studio to handle the streaming rights to the show (a new concept at the time), with neither of the concerned parties fully in control.

By 2019, however, things had drastically changed in the industry. Streaming was not just a thing, it was dominating Hollywood, and every studio wanted a piece of that large cash pie. Since Paramount had no streaming platform at the time, it saw an opportunity to make a lot of money and sold the "South Park" streaming rights to HBO Max, making every episode of the show available to stream on that platform (including new episodes). Except, by 2021, Paramount had launched its own streamer with Paramount+, and that same year, the studio struck a deal with South Park Studios for an additional six seasons of the show, as well as streaming-exclusive "special episodes" meant for Paramount+.

Yes, Parker and Stone were technically double-dipping by producing "exclusive" new "South Park" projects for both HBO Max and Paramount+. This is essentially what their whole "Streaming Wars" special was about, and that special is spectacular. Still, HBO Max was not happy about what it saw as a breach of contract and sued Paramount for streaming what the company saw as new episodes on its own platform.

But that HBO Max streaming deal was set to expire now, in 2025, meaning "South Park" would only be streaming on Paramount+ after that. If only it were that easy. Instead, that streaming deal has neither been renewed nor replaced with an alternative, and Parker and Stone's South Park Studios has been shopping the rights to other companies. Except, according to documents revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, Parker and Stone are now also threatening to sue Paramount for allegedly interfering with a new deal for the show's streaming rights.

Specifically, Parker and Stone are accusing Jeff Shell, who is set to become president of Paramount Global after the pending merger of the studio with Skydance, over attempting to prioritize Paramount+ and shorten terms with other studios in a new streaming agreement.

In short, Parker and Stone are expressing their anger over what they see as corporate shenanigans drastically changing the way they make "South Park" (the recent seasons have been shorter since they're also making "specials"), when the show's episodes are released, and who can even stream them.