From its first episode in 1997, South Park has consistently pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable on television.
By tackling sensitive subject matters, from religion, sexuality and race to politics, the show’s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, challenge societal norms with the most shocking scenarios imaginable.
Previous episodes have ignited such significant backlash that it has even led to threats of violence, particularly with the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
But the show was yet to air a storyline so controversial that it prompted a response from the White House. That is until now.
Following the season 27 premiere, the show has been scathingly criticalal Donald Trump administration – prompting a rather odd response from Homeland Security.
So, looking back through South Park’s history, here is a breakdown of all the times the series has mocked Donald Trump.
An early portrayal
The first time Trump ever featured in an episode of South Park was in season five, 20 years ago.
The president appeared as himself, a wealthy eccentric businessman, who is among other rich investors watching Mr. Garrison’s transportation invention.
In this episode, he was not the focus, and there was little, if any, political commentary at all.
Trump mainly features as part of the ‘rich elite’ joke, and his reference is a cultural one rather than a critique, given his celebrity status at the time.
The Canadian version of Trump
Titled ‘Where My Country Gone?’ the next time Trump featured came in season 19 in 2015.
While Trump is not named directly, a Canadian version of him becomes the President of Canada.
Featuring his distinctive hair and skin tone, the Trump-like Canadian president is blamed for the downfall of Canada, which triggers Garrison’s anti-immigration stance.
The satire level is certainly raised up a notch as his character is ridiculed for his policies and behaviour.
In future episodes, Mr Garrison – dressed as Trump – also appeared in various episodes until 2016 as Stone and Parker parodied real-world politics.
Spooning Satan
Last, but certainly not least, season 27’s premiere ‘Sermon on the Mount’ mercilessly mocks Trump, portraying him as a litigious sex pest who is in a relationship with Satan.
The new episode scored 5,900,000 viewers across Paramount Plus and Comedy Central in the US (via Variety) in the first three days it was available to watch.
It also made several jokes about Trump’s penis, and it was since revealed that the creators had to fight to stop it from being blurred.
This came despite Stone and Parker vowing that they would avoid talking about Trump, when doing an interview for Vanity Fair during the time of the 2024 US election.
Stone said that ‘it’s such a mind scramble’ to write the show during the election and that they ‘didn’t know what more we could possibly say about Trump’
The duo also said they were ‘waiting for Paramount to figure out their s***’.
Following this latest episode, however, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Metro in a statement: ‘We want to thank South Park for drawing attention to ICE law enforcement recruitment.’
She then urged ‘patriotic’ watchers of the show to join ICE and help deport people from the country, listing a number of benefits.
South Park is available to watch on Comedy Central.
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