South Park creators explain why their new jokes target Trump — say politics has now become pop culture

Paramount Global’s hit animated show, South Park, first premiered in 1997 and has been running for 28 seasons now.

The American satirical comedy, created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, streams on Comedy Central, and its main characters are Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman. The show features the adventures they go on together in their small Colorado town.

The two creators of the show, Matt and Trey, were working on sketching and writing new episodes for the show in the summer of 2025, and all they could think about was politics, President Donald Trump, and the political slogan "MAGA," which means "Make America Great Again."

Both of them sensed a layer of fear in people regarding speaking out against the Trump administration and ultimately based episodes on President Trump.

They argued that politics in Washington had become the new pop culture, and they wanted to speak out against the injustices that were taking place, such as Stephen Colbert’s show being canceled and Paramount needing permission from the White House to work on their own independent contract. 

Details explored of South Park’s new episodes, talking about politics and President Trump, along with the creators' thought process behind the same

Paramount’s hit American satirical animated show, South Park, has recently returned to the limelight with its new episodes. The creators of the show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, wrote the new episode in the current season in response to the current political climate in America.

Both the creators spoke about how when they were in the middle of writing the new episodes, they had realized that certain taboos had emerged, and the common people were mostly afraid of speaking out against the Trump administration out of fear.

In an interview, Trey said,

“It’s not that we got all political. It’s that politics became pop culture.”

South Park, which first premiered in 1997, now criticizes the authoritarian government of President Donald Trump and his team of advisors. The episodes still feature the four characters —Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and Eric —but their adventures have a tinge of resistance to them as well.

Due to the new episode, the show's ratings have catapulted, and the current viewership is more than double the total viewership of 2023 combined.

Some of the recent episodes target events that have occurred in the recent past in the entertainment industry, such as Paramount changing its ownership, the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show, and Jimmy Kimmel’s show also being pulled off the air —all due to pressure from the Trump administration.

Doug Herzog, who is a former executive of Comedy Central, said,

“It all created a perfect storm for them, and they jumped right into it. They met the moment in a way only they could do."

In the ongoing plot of the show, Mr. Donald Trump is shown expecting a baby with Satan, along with dealing with MAGA politics. Matt spoke about how they had thought that an episode based on Trump would be a one-off, but they soon realized how they had perfectly tapped into a vein of comedy.

Trey said,

“We basically start with a song, and we don’t know where the album’s going to take us. 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.”

Stay tuned for more updates.