‘South Park’ Creators Say Network Bosses Threatened To Censor Controversial Trump Episode

The creators of “South Park,” Matt Stone and Trey Parker, say network officials threatened to censor the highly anticipated season premiere of their Comedy Central cartoon.The episode skewers Paramount bosses after they decided to settle a lawsuit with President Trump. It also repeatedly shows Mr. Trump naked and makes fun of the size of his manhood. The images drew the ire of network bosses in the days leading up to the episode’s release, according to Mr. Parker.During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Mr. Parker said the network asked to blur the shots of Mr. Trump’s penis but they refused during multiple days of back and forth.Along with cartoon versions of Mr. Trump appearing naked in bed with Satan, the episode includes a mock public service announcement showing an artificially generated live-action version of an obese Mr. Trump stripping naked in the desert with a talking penis.Mr. Parker said when network officials said they were going to blur it, he responded, “No, you’re not going to blur the penis.”“If we put eyes on the penis, we won’t blur it,” Mr. Parker added. He says the googly eyes made it a character in the show.The back-and-forth on the issue spanned four days, according to Mr. Parker.“That’s how that happened,” Mr. Stone added.In the mock public service announcement, the penis says, “I’m Donald J. Trump and I endorse this message.”Mr. Parker noted that they just finalized the episode’s story days before the airdate. He said he and Mr. Stone were seeing news reports and said, “Let’s put that in there.” That gave little time for network executives to argue over content.When asked if they had been following the reaction, Mr. Parker deadpanned, “We’re terribly sorry.” The crowd reacted with laughter and one person screamed, “No you’re not.”Mr. Stone joked that future episodes will have “no politics.”The new “South Park” episode was released the same day it was announced that Messrs. Stone and Parker had reached a five year deal with Paramount Global to create 50 new episodes and continue to air the show on Comedy Central and stream all episodes for five years on Paramount Plus. The deal is reportedly worth $1.5 billion.Despite the huge payday, the White House calls the show “fourth-rate” and “hanging on by a thread.”Messrs. Stone and Parker were at Comic-Con for the first time in nearly a decade as part of Comedy Central’s adult animation panel along with the creator of “Beavis and Butt-Head,” Mike Judge, and Andy Samberg, who created “Digman!”

‘South Park’ Creators Say Network Bosses Threatened To Censor Controversial Trump Episode

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