Patton Oswalt appeared on the latest episode of The Daily Beast’s “Last Laugh” podcast and took aim at America’s “authoritarian government” under Donald Trump. One of the most notable parts of the interview came when the comedian was asked about Trump’s selective attacks on comedy.
Trump posts non-stop tirades against late-night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers, all of whom regularly speak out against him on air. Trump’s disdain for late night was widely speculated as a primary reason for CBS’ cancellation of Colbert’s “The Late Show” earlier this year as the network’s new owner, David Ellison, aligns himself more closely to the president. Trump also celebrated Kimmel’s ABC suspension in September. And yet, Trump has yet to post a takedown of “South Park,” which has devoted many of its recent episodes to slamming Trump in far more vulgar, shocking and NSFW ways than any late-night host has even attempted.
“Nothing shuts Trump up like money,” Oswalt said. “He can argue that Stephen Colbert isn’t getting the ratings and isn’t making the money, even though the show is brilliant. But it’s not that Stephen Colbert is slipping in the ratings, it’s that the whole infrastructure of late-night television is slipping.”
But “South Park” is not slipping. Just before the show started airing its anti-Trump episodes in late July, series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone inked an extension of their overall deal with Paramount Global for five more years. Then “South Park” started airing its Trump and MAGA takedown episodes and scored record ratings. As Oswalt explained, Trump can’t claim that “South Park” isn’t a moneymaker or ratings driver in the way he attacks late-night hosts.
Oswalt continued, “Something that is as massive and as undeniable as ‘South Park,’ both in quality, which people like you and I can see, but then in numbers and money, which Trump can see, he just falls silent. If Colbert was making ‘South Park’ money and getting ‘South Park’ eyes on him, Trump wouldn’t know what to do.”
In various recent episodes, “South Park” has depicted Donald Trump having sex with Satan and getting him pregnant, a plastic-surgery ravaged Kristi Noem shooting puppies and FCC chairman Brendan Carr haunting the White House as the East Wing gets demolished. The latest episode featured JD Vance seducing Trump and getting into bed with him.
Stone and Parker recently spoke to The New York Times about going all-in on anti-Trump and anti-MAGA episodes this season, explaining they had no choice because “politics became pop culture” and “there’s no getting away from [MAGA].”
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
“It’s like the government is just in your face everywhere you look,” Parker explained. “Whether it’s the actual government or whether it is all the podcasters and the TikToks and the YouTubes and all of that, and it’s just all political and political because it’s more than political. It’s pop culture.”
While Trump has not yet personally condemned “South Park,” a spokesperson for the White House slammed the series after the Season 27 premiere aired in July. The White House claimed “South Park” 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,” the statement continued. “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.”
“South Park” continues airing its 28th season through Dec. 10.
From Variety US