“South Park.”
South Park’s Season 27 premiere episode — where creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone take on President Donald Trump — has media outlets buzzing.
While there aren’t enough episodes for critics to release a season review for South Park Season 27 plenty of online outlets are sharing their observations of Episode 1, called Sermon on the ‘Mount.
After the series’ premiere was delayed two weeks over Skydance’s pending acquisition of Paramount Global — as well as Paramount Global’s negotiations with Parker and Stone to bring South Park to its Paramount+ streaming platform — Episode 1 finally premiered on Comedy Central on Wednesday.
Paramount Global and Stone and Parker finally reached a deal early Wednesday that is worth $1.5 billion over five years, and Season 27 Episode 1 premiered on Paramount+ early Thursday morning — along with South Park’s first 26 seasons.
The logline for South Park Season 27 Episode 1 reads, “When the residents of South Park face their possible demise, Jesus returns to give them an important message.”
However, upon Jesus’ visit to South Park Elementary, it sets off a chain of events that extends to the White House, where Parker and Stone go hard after President Donald Trump with scenes involving Satan and lots of nudity — South Park animation-style and via a live-action deepfake.
In addition, the episode works in pointed observations about Paramount’s $16 million lawsuit settlement with Trump and even manages to work in a reference to “Epstein’s list.”
In her take on the Season 27 premiere, Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence wrote that “creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone did a lot, but perhaps the most important thing they did was remember what punching up looks like.
“Taking aim at President Trump in a way that seems actively tailored to piss the current administration off, Sermon on the ‘Mount plays like a direct dare to Paramount to cancel the show, or for our government to make Parker and Stone’s lives very unpleasant the next time they try to go through airport security,” Miller added. “And by doing so, the pair have created a piece of subversive political art that feels like a true reflection of today.”
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 24: (L-R) Matt Stone and Trey Parker attend Paramount+’s South Park In … More
What Did Other Outlets Say About The ‘South Park’ Season 27 Premiere?
Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone also lauded Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s gutsy episode, even if their criticism was leveled by using South Park brand humor.
“At precarious moments like this, certain things need to be said out loud, even if they’re being packaged with juvenile d— jokes,” Sepinwall wrote in Rolling Stone. “When so many of their peers are too scared to offer even a mealy-mouthed version of criticism, Parker, Stone, and South Park just went for it. Motivations don’t matter.”
While President Donald Trump and conservatives were at the center of Episode 1’s mockery, Parker and Stone have been known to be an equal opportunity offenders. As such, Sepinwall wrote that viewers shouldn’t be surprised if a future episode lampoons the left.
“Desperate times mean you can’t afford to interrogate the credentials of everyone who takes your side, even if it’s only temporary,” Sepinwall writes in Rolling Stone. “Parker and Stone can be so politically elusive that it wouldn’t be shocking if the next episode had a subplot about AOC [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] in a bikini contest, so the duo can once again insist that their chief goal is to play devil’s advocate to whatever the conventional wisdom of the moment is.”
In his assessment of the South Park Season 27 premiere for The Guardian in the U.K., Stuart Heritage wrote that there could be greater implications for Paramount.
“Sermon on the ‘Mount is a grand dare. If Trump could get $16 million by suing Paramount over an editorially acceptable edit on a news [program], then it stands to reason that he will try to go after a cartoon that depicts him trying to insert his microscopic p—- into Satan,” Heritage wrote in The Guardian. “And if he does sue, will Paramount risk destroying its already damaged reputation by capitulating yet again?”
While media outlets celebrated the South Park Season 27 premiere, it managed to attract one major criticism — from the White House.
“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,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement to media outlets (via Variety). “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 Season 27 is available on streaming on Paramount+ along with Seasons 1-26.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2025/07/25/south-park-season-27-media-reactions-to-the-donald-trump–episode/