Of all the dubious achievements of Donald Trump’s time in office, the most surprising may be this: the US president has made South Park relevant again. The long-running animation – just days ago signing a record-breaking $1.5bn deal with Paramount to produce 50 new episodes over the next five years – used its long-awaited season premiere to launch a characteristically pugnacious critique of the president.
Over the past weeks and months, Trump’s antagonism towards his country’s arts and media sector has intensified. Part of this has manifested in legislation – such as the cuts to PBS and NPR, the US’s public service broadcasters, which were passed by Congress earlier this month. The National Endowment for the Arts has undergone drastic cuts this year, slashing government investment in the humanities at a local level. At other times, Trump’s ire has taken the form of litigation: Trump last year sued Paramount, the parent company of the network CBS, over what he contended was misleading editing in an interview with his opponent Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election. This month, legal action was also launched against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch, over the publication of the president’s alleged birthday letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
