Partial poster for “South Park” Season 27.
Comedy Central/Paramount+
Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s South Park returns this week with Season 27, Episode 5 after its release was postponed at the last minute a week ago. What time will the new episode begin and will it address the Jimmy Kimmel controversy?
All season long, of course, Parker and Stone have mocked President Donald Trump and/or his administration, policies and MAGA followers. Episode 2 also lampooned conservative activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk, who, despite the mockery, considered being called out by South Park an honor.
Then, in a horrific tragedy on Sept. 10, Kirk was assassinated during a Turning Point USA event on the campus of Utah Valley University. Comedy Central immediately pulled the Kirk episode from its cable lineup — but it was left untouched on Paramount+ — which eventually led to the executive producer of The Charlie Kirk Show to urge Paramount Global to put it back on the air.
Since South Park had relentlessly mocked Trump and the right wing throughout Season 27, the show suddenly found itself in an uncomfortable position ahead of what was supposed to be the release of Episode 5 last week in the aftermath of Kirk’s death.
The question of whether the show was going to remain political on Sept. 17, however, wasn’t answered because Parker and Stone issued an 11th-hour notice on South Park’s X account that the new episode was postponed for a week.
The note in the South Park X post reads, “Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don’t get it done. This one’s on us. We didn’t get it done on time. Thanks to Comedy Central and South Park fans for being so understanding. Tune in next week!”
Unless Parker and Stone come up against another set of unforeseen circumstances, South Park Season 27, Episode 5 is scheduled to air on cable and satellite on Comedy Central on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The episode will then be available for streaming on Paramount+ on Thursday at 6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. PT.
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The Jimmy Kimmel Controversy Broke The Same Day ‘South Park’ Postponed Episode 5
If Trey Parker and Matt Stone decide to keep the focus on President Donald Trump and politics in the new episode of South Park, they certainly have fresh hot topic to examine with the suspension of TV talker Jimmy Kimmel by ABC parent the Walt Disney Company.
Kimmel, of course, was suspended indefinitely on Sept. 17 following his controversial comments about the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the same day that Parker and Stone postponed South Park’s newest episode.
The suspension of the TV talker’s show happened after Kimmel said during his monologue on Sept. 15, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
After Kimmel’s show was pulled, cries of Trump-inspired censorship of free speech erupted from high-profile showbiz celebrities, Kimmel’s talk show rivalries and even former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
While the Kimmel controversy continued to play out, Stone made it clear to The Denver Post that censorship had nothing to do with the newest episode of South Park being postponed.
“No one pulled the episode, no one censored us, and you know we’d say so if true,” Stone told The Denver Post on Sept. 19. “We just didn’t get it done. When you always cut it close, sometimes you mess up. That’s the price of being a procrastinator.”
ABC announced Monday that after conversations with Kimmel, the show would return on Tuesday night. However, two broadcast groups that carry ABC programming — the Nexstar Media Group and the Sinclair Broadcasting Group — will continue to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live!, so the controversy isn’t behind the network or Kimmel just yet.
South Park, of course, tackled the censorship controversy in Episode 1 of Season 27, when it called out its parent company, Paramount Global, over the cancellation of the company-owned Late Show with Stephen Colbert. As such, taking the Walt Disney Company to task over Kimmel’s suspension — at least under different circumstances — wouldn’t be a big stretch.
If Parker and Stone decide to go that route, however, they’ll have to proceed with extreme caution since Kimmel’s remarks stemmed from Kirk’s assassination. Even if the Kimmel controversy isn’t mentioned, if Parker and Stone proceed with more mockery of Trump, it will no doubt place Skydance Media and Paramount Global back on the hot seat (and perhaps ironically take some of the heat off of Disney).
Of course, Parker and Stone have a viable way to avoid any controversy if they so choose. They can simply examine the edgy antics of Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny at South Park Elementary — the characters and setting that made South Park such a cultural phenomenon in the first place.
South Park Season 27, Episode 5 is set to air on Comedy Central on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT and will stream on Paramount+ on Thursday at 6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. PT.