On the heels of the “South Park” Season 27 premiere getting delayed by two weeks to July 23, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone released a scathing statement against Comedy Central parent Paramount Global, whose proposed merger with Skydance Media has still yet to close nearly a year after the companies inked the deal.
The Season 27 delay was announced Wednesday morning by Paramount and Comedy Central, and 30 minutes later the “South Park” X account released a statement from the creators calling the Paramount-Skydance merger a “shit show” that is “fucking up ‘South Park.’”
“In response to the press release from Comedy Central about the change in premiere date for ‘South Park’ Trey Parker and Matt Stone said – ‘This merger is a shit show and it’s fucking up “South Park.” We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow,’” their statement read.
Season 26 of “South Park” released more than two years ago, in March 2023, and consisted of only six episodes. A trio of special episodes dropped on Paramount+ between October 2023 and March 2024, but it’s been a while since fans got a proper season.
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While Parker and Stone did not lay out of the specifics of why the long-pending merger between Comedy Central parent (and owner of CBS, MTV, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+ and more) Paramount Global and Skydance are to blame for the delayed “South Park” premiere, it’s clear by the toll the holding pattern has already taken across the rest of the company in the form of cancellations, release date changes and major layoffs.
The $8 billion Paramount-Skydance deal is still pending FCC approval nearly a year after the agreement was announced. President Trump, when he was asked last week what was holding it up, launched into a discussion of his lawsuit against Paramount and CBS over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. Late Tuesday night, Paramount and Trump announced a settlement of the lawsuit under which Paramount will pay the president $16 million.
There’s also an ongoing legal battle with “South Park’s” streaming rights. Warner Bros. Discovery’s HBO Max has maintained the exclusive streaming rights to the series, but its deal expired in late June and a new deal between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount hasn’t been agreed upon yet. “South Park” is still available on Max (soon to be renamed HBO )Max, and extension talks have been ongoing, but Parker and Stone have accused incoming Paramount president Jeff Shell of interfering in their contract negotiations with WBD and Netflix.
From Variety US