Donald Trump South Park attack has huge impact on ratings
South Park ratings have soared after a recent episode launched a brutal attack on President Donald Trump. The animated series, which has been on air since 1997, launched its 27th season earlier this week and the opener came with a joke aimed at the Republican leader's manhood.
In the episode, Trump had been presented with an official painting and he was unhappy with the way his privates had been depicted as being so small. There were also several pictures littered throughout the cartoon version of the White House, one of which seemed to show the President engaging in questionable activity with a sheep.
But perhaps the most striking image of all was a naked Trump lying in bed with Satan. The episode was titled Sermon on the Mount and it all comes after creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, signed a £1.19bn ($1.5 billion) deal with Paramount.
In a statement hitting back at the contents of the episode, the White House said: "This show hasn't been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention. President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country's history – and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump's hot streak."
But, in any case, the move seems to have worked in Paramount's favour as it has now been revealed how much the ratings improved upon the season premiere. According to Paramount, the episode was watched by nearly six million viewers across these its own platform and Comedy Central, reports Deadline. The outlet also notes that the show is 'also scored its biggest season premiere share on the cable network since 1999' and ratings are up 68% when compared to the last season.
The episode had Cartman lash out after he found out his favourite show NPR (National Public Radio) was cancelled, before he was told that Trump was the one who cancelled it. Cartman yells out: "The government can't cancel the show, I mean, what show are they going to cancel next?" He soon wears a T-shirt with the words, 'Woke is dead', emblazoned on it.
While South Park residents come together when the school principal brings Jesus to an assembly, Trump is seen in the White House being criticised for rising tariffs in Canada.
He tells his opponents to "relax" and later decorates the White House with nude portraits of himself. However, instead of being animated in classic South Park style, the creators used photos of Trump's face on an animated body.
And when South Park supporters turn on him, he sues the residents for $5 billion (£3.9 billion). Jesus begs the people of South Park to stop rioting against the president and settle the lawsuit.
They negotiated the lawsuit to $3.5billion (around £3 billion) but have to produce "pro-Trump messaging" in their public service announcements, as per the settlement deal.
The premiere episode then concludes with a number of x-rated deepfake advertisements of a naked Trump crawling his way through a desert. It comes after South Park's creator landed a $1.5 billion deal with Paramount, with them producing a run of 50 new episodes over five years. And last week, Mr Parker, who also co-created The Book of Mormon, the premiere, Parker had the briefest - and iciest - response to the backlash. He said: "We're terribly sorry" and gave a long, deadpan-comic stare to camera and his fans, the Mirror.com reports. was asked for his reaction to the fracas as he sat on the stage at San Diego's Comic-Con International at the beginning of a Comedy Central animation panel. Mr Stone was also on the panel at the comic book convention, held in California every year.
Meanwhile, Paramount and CBS recently shocked fans when they announced the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's talk show, with many questioning the reason behind it.
Trump shared his delight over the cancellation, posting: "I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!
"Greg Gutfield is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show." In a segment on Stephen's show, the host read out Trump's tweet while doing an impression of the President's voice.
The audience booed the tweet before Stephen confidently said: "How dare you, sir? Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism?" before turning to a different camera and adding: "Go f**k yourself!"
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