South Park's Season 27 Premiere Brings Back A Classic Joke To Mock Donald Trump

In an era where just about everybody wants to be the next provocateur, being a good provocateur is like finding a needle in a haystack. The best way to elicit a meaningful shock to the system requires a level of fearlessness towards the subject they're mocking, and "South Park" may have just outdone themselves with the season 27 premiere. That's a strong claim to make considering the hit animated series has been airing on Comedy Central since 1997. Series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have skewered almost every celebrity scandal, catastrophic world event, and political discord possible with the glee of two kids burning ants with a magnifying glass. They are nothing if not ruthless when they set their sights on a target they can eviscerate on their show. It makes it all the more insane that the pair pushed their own boundaries on that episode when it came to lampooning President Donald J. Trump.

In seasons past, "South Park" refrained from actually having a version of Trump in the show (well, at least in his presidential form) by having fourth grade teacher Mr. Garrison as a ludicrous stand-in, complete with the fake spray tan. But season 27 viewers witnessed a deepfake of the current sitting President wandering through the desert, removing his clothes and collapsing in the sand before his talking micropenis says "I'm Donald Trump and I endorse this message." There are plenty of ways to open a comedy series after so many years, but "South Park" didn't just swing for the fences, it torched them at a critical juncture in its parent company's history.

Paramount, who owns Comedy Central, has been embroiled in a whole number of legal developments as of late, including paying a $16 million settlement to Trump after he hit them with a lawsuit over their coverage of former Vice President Kamala Harris on "60 Minutes." The "South Park" episode, entitled "Sermon on the 'Mount," even makes a jab at this, showing the "60 Minutes" hosts falling over themselves to praise the current President with the same cadence as a hostage video. Prior to the season 27 premiere, the rights to "South Park" were being held up in litigation. Stone and Parker were starting to get frustrated about the whole thing ... that is, until a $1.5 billion deal was struck just two days ago.

"South Park" will supposedly live on over 50 episodes spread out across the next five years. Although after that boundary-pushing season premiere, it remains to be seen whether the episode will further incur Trump's wrath at Paramount. The deepfake would have been a wild bit in and of itself, but to truly skewer the sitting President, Stone and Parker went with a throwback technique.

In most cases, whenever "South Park" parodies a famous figure, they're often presented in an exaggerated animated form akin to the show's characters. It's like how guest stars on "The Simpsons" are almost always presented as yellow. But then there are cases where Stone and Parker opt to use actual photographs of the people they're lampooning. It's a distinction they've reserved for only a few select individuals such as Saddam Hussein and Mel Gibson. "Sermon on the 'Mount" continues this tradition by doing so with Trump, and it's hilarious.

The "South Park" Trump lords over the town, as he defunds NPR and starts implementing Christianity back into schools. It causes Cartman to have an identity crisis because the politically correct barriers have started to come down, making his shtick part of the mainstream again. "Sermon on the 'Mount" could have been all about the unseen effects of the Trump administration on the rocky mountain town, but the episode actually dedicates part of its runtime to showing the current President acting like a fool in the White House.

Trump's visage is animated in the same manner as the series' Canadian characters, whose split heads bounce up and down whenever they speak. He even says "aboot" at one point, giving the impression that he's actually from Canada. Stone and Parker's Trump can't even tell the difference between Iraq and Iran. He waltzes around the White House with portraits of him having sex with a sheep and visiting a dingy bathroom stall glory hole, yet only seems to have an issue with the portrait of him having a micropenis. Additionally, Trump constantly threatens to sue people at the drop of a hat. The deepfake PSA only transpires because Randy insults the President, causing him to sue the town of South Park for a ludicrously excessive $5 billion. Ironically, they strike a $3.5 million settlement that also mandates Trump-positive PSAs.

Jesus even tries to get the people of South Park to shut up and play ball, asking them if they really want to end up like Stephen Colbert. It's jokes like these that really illustrate Stone and Parker's blindingly quick workaround time considering "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" was unceremoniously cancelled by CBS less than a week ago. About halfway through "Sermon on the 'Mount," however, it becomes absurdly clear that this version of Trump is akin to the show's depiction of Saddam in more ways than one.

Prior to the airing of "Sermon on the 'Mount," a 30 second promo for the new season was dropped online teasing the return of a character we've haven't seen in a bit. He's obscured in darkness, but hearing "Heyyyyy! Relax, guy" gave the impression Stone and Parker were about to bring back Saddam in some form. An establishing shot of the White House was even accompanied by the musical stinger of the "I Can Change" song from the 1999 feature film "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut." To everyone's surprise, it turned out to be Stone using the same silly voice he did to make fun of the Iraqi dictator, but on Trump instead. It's a brilliant reveal because it spares everyone from hearing another terrible impression, and imbuing the character's ramblings through a silly vocal tenor that begs to not be taken seriously.

This wasn't enough for Stone and Parker, as their Trump is shown repeating history by getting naked and jumping into bed to have sex with Satan. But where the Lord of Darkness was momentarily infatuated with Saddam in the '99 film, here he can barely stand Trump's presence from moment one. "You remind me more and more of this other guy I used to date. Like, a lot. Like, you guys are exactly alike," says a frustrated Satan. Not even saying Saddam's catchphrase can make Satan appreciate his new lover and his teeny tiny genitals.

It should come as no surprise that the White House responded to the episode with a statement about how hurt they are by the whole thing (via Rolling Stone):

"Just like the creators of 'South Park,' the Left has no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows. This show hasn't been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention."

That's an objectively hilarious claim for them to make considering the show just received an $1.5 billion payday and garnered worldwide headlines in its 27th season, not to mention that the White House felt the need to make a statement on the matter. Everyone knows that if you respond to an unflattering parody, it only exacerbates the matter that much more. The greatest joke of "Sermon on the 'Mount" lies in dropping this episode in the wake of a merger between Paramount and Skydance that has yet to be approved by the FCC, which is being run under Trump's control.

The episode is a truly bold example of televisual protest, and if this is the kind of ammo Stone and Parker are bringing out in the season premiere, this has to be the (tiny) tip of the iceberg for what comes next.

Every season of "South Park" is currently streaming on Paramount+.