'South Park' Creators Waiting Until After The Election To Bring Back The Show

By Andrew Sanford | TV | September 6, 2024 |

By Andrew Sanford | TV | September 6, 2024 |

Remember when Donald Trump was shot at? That was only two months ago. Do you still remember where you were when Joe Biden announced he wouldn’t run for reelection? That happened before Deadpool & Wolverine came out. Robert Kennedy Jr. admitted to planting a dead bear in a public park! That only happened a month ago! Yet, this election cycle has felt interminably long, and there are still two f***ing months left. I’m ready for it to be over, and it appears so are Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

The duo behind the long-running animated show South Park is no stranger to getting political (for better and worse). They also create their episodes on very short schedules, allowing them to remain relevant. I still remember marveling at their response to the 2008 election. They developed two possible endings so the show, which airs on Wednesday, could react accurately to an election that took place 24 hours prior.

That’s damned impressive! It was made easier by the fact that the political satire in the episode was a bit toothless (revealing that both candidates were secret thieves attempting to pull off a big heist), but impressive, nonetheless. In recent years, they had the longtime character Mr. Garrison act as a stand-in for Trump. Now, they don’t want to cover the election at all, and I get it.

In addition to waiting for “Paramount to figure all their sh** out,” Parker and Stone told Variety that the show will not be returning until 2025 at the earliest. “We’ve tried to do South Park through four or five presidential elections, and it is such a hard thing to — it’s such a mind scramble, and it seems like it takes outsized importance,” Stone explained. Parker agreed, adding, “Obviously, it’s f**king important, but it kind of takes over everything and we just have less fun. I don’t know what more we could possibly say about Trump.”

Wanting to stay away from the election because of Trump fatigue makes a whole lot of sense to me. I’m doing everything in my power to avoid hearing his voice until he, ideally, loses and absconds to Russia without any family members in tow. That will include avoiding the debate like a plague I can actually see and hear. If Parker and Stone want to avoid doing the show so they don’t have to make fun of Trump, that’s understandable. Let’s just hope that, when the show returns, they’re legally allowed to poke fun at the convicted criminal.