Trump's South Park fiasco exposed who really holds the cards: Deadline editor
July 24, 2025
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace welcomed Hollywood insider and Deadline executive editor on to laugh about the Comedy Central show "South Park" making fun of President Donald Trump, along with their parent network, Paramount.
Dominic Patten explained that behind the scenes, "South Park" was set to make its season premiere on July 9, but was embroiled in a legal battle with Paramount/CBS over the merger with Skydance Media, which totaled approximately $8 billion.
"So, not Trump change, if you know what I mean," Patten joked.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone have been known to have the show done sometimes just 24 hours in advance of air, and in this case, the men waited long enough that they could include all of the leading news in the episode, from the news about Stephen Colbert, to CBS News caving into Trump, and much more. At one point, even the character of Jesus Christ gets sued by Trump and tries to urge the town of South Park, Colorado, to stay quiet and do Trump's bidding.
The Hollywood Reporter said that the deal is valued at approximately $1.5 billion.
"I think maybe with the exception of The Simpsons and maybe anything that Dick Wolf makes on his Law and Order franchises, South Park is one of the few parts of media content that actually does exist unto itself," Patten told Wallace during Thursday's show. "They could have taken their party to somewhere else if Paramount hadn't coughed up the dough they wanted. So, in a way, they had Paramount by the short and curlies."
The show aired on Wednesday night, where it has remained for 27 seasons. Stone and Parker are also scheduled to speak at ComicCon on Thursday night.
"So, you clearly don't want them showing up in front of thousands with them dissing you," said Patten. "So, I don't think Paramount had any choice here. They had to go with it. Unlike Stephen Colbert, where there was an argument to be made, and it's 'a financial one,' whether or not you buy it or not, and the timing doesn't indicate it. But basically, late night has been losing $40 million a year."
However, "South Park" is a huge money maker for the network, Patten noted.
"And they kind of had to swallow whatever Trey Parker and Matt Stone were going to serve up, and they served up Donald Trump on a plate fully baked. That's just the reality of the economics of it," Patten quipped.
"They're trying to close this deal. You know, the FCC is basically going to close this deal now that CBS has paid up $16 million," Patten said about the payout to Trump. "And supposedly a side deal has been made for millions more in PSAs for Donald Trump, which is what the naked Donald Trump — synthetic media, as they call it — it's AI, as the grown-ups might call it, that's shown in last night's 'South Park,' displayed and mocked unto itself."
He cautioned that it's certainly not the end of this story and that once anyone gets into a dust-up with Trump, "fists are going to fly." What's different in this case, Patten closed, is "someone is willing to step in the ring."
See the full comments and "South Park" PSA below or at the link here.
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