South Park Creators Rip Paramount Merger ‘Sh*tshow’ Amid $16 Million Trump Settlement: ‘It’s F*cking Up South Park’

(Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone took aim at Paramount Global’s “shitshow” merger with Skydance Media after Comedy Central announced a delay to the show’s new season premiere on the very same morning that the media giant agreed a $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump.
The comedy duo issued a scorching statement just 30 minutes after the announcement that South Park’s Season 27 would now be pushed back two weeks to July 23. Parker and Stone blamed the delay on the merger, which is pending FCC approval. The deal’s decision deadline lands on July 7.
“This merger is a shit show and it’s fucking up South Park,” they wrote on X via the show’s official account. “We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow.”
Despite not specifying how the merger impacted their show, the creators’ frustration appears rooted in wider internal tensions around how the company has navigated its bid to finalize the deal.
Just hours earlier, despite legal experts believing the company had a robust defense, Paramount settled its lawsuit with Trump over a 2020 60 Minutes interview, agreeing to pay the president $16 million.
The handling of the lawsuit led to conflict within the 60 Minutes team. Two of the show’s key staff, then-executive producer Bill Owens and CBS News chief Wendy McMahon, resigned after reportedly resisting the idea of a settlement and complaints of top-down editorial pressure from corporate executives.
South Park’s Season 26 aired more than two years ago with just six episodes, and fans have been left in limbo ever since Paramount’s protracted $8 billion merger with Skydance was announced.