South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have responded with humour to criticism from the White House over their latest episode, which depicted Donald Trump naked in bed with Satan. Speaking at Comic-Con in San Diego, Parker offered a deadpan apology: 'We're terribly sorry,' followed by a long stare.
The White House had issued a statement calling the show 'irrelevant' and 'desperate for attention'. The episode, which aired on Wednesday, used a hyper-realistic deepfake video of Trump walking naked in a desert and repeatedly suggested his genitalia were small. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said the show 'hasn't been relevant for over 20 years'.
Parker and Stone revealed that they spent days negotiating with producers over whether to show Trump's genitals. 'They said, “OK, but we’re gonna blur the penis,” and I said, “No you’re not gonna blur the penis,”' Parker recalled. Stone added that they decided to put eyes on the penis to make it a character, which led to 'a whole conversation with grown-up people for four fucking days'.
The episode also took aim at Paramount, which recently settled a lawsuit with Trump for $16m. In the episode, Trump sues South Park after residents challenge the presence of Jesus in a school. Jesus warns them: 'Do you really want to end up like Colbert?' referring to the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's Late Show after he criticised Paramount's settlement.
South Park's rapid production schedule allows it to stay current, with episodes finished just hours before airing. Parker admitted he didn't know what next week's episode would be, saying, 'Even just three days ago, we were like, “I don’t know if people are going to like this.”'
