Poor Kenny Loggins' Dudes Rock Song 'Danger Zone' Is Now A Culture War Anthem

Somehow, the dudes rock song of Top Gun fame is embroiled in a culture war that's reached the South Park universe. In Season 28, Episode 4, the battle between the Trump administration and artist Kenny Loggins over the song “Danger Zone” was given animated life. 

In “Turkey Trot,” South Park takes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to task for his extrajudicial military killings and also acting like a total “f—ing douche,” in a new song to the tune of “Danger Zone.” The show portrays Hegseth, who has been dubbed the “Secretary of War” by President Donald Trump, invading and ruining a Turkey Trot.

Instead of “Out along the edges / Always where I burn to be / The further on the edge /The hotter the intensity,” lyrics, South Park’s version trots out “Making lots of content / Like a teenage girl.” 

The Loggins parody wasn’t just an excellent opportunity to rag on Hegseth—who probably thinks of himself as a Top Gun Maverick type—it was also a chance to resurface the existing political battle over “Danger Zone.”

Back in October, Trump posted an AI generated video to Truth Social that depicted the president in a fighter jet, dropping metric tons of poop on the city of Chicago. The horrific and bizarre video was set to none other than “Danger Zone.” Almost immediately, Loggins issued a statement to NPR, decrying the usage.

“This is an unauthorized use of my performance of 'Danger Zone,’” the statement said. “Nobody asked me for my permission, which I would have denied, and I request that my recording on this video is removed immediately.”

The hit song was first released as a single from the 1986 classic Top Gun soundtrack. Starring Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer, it follows strapping young men as they attend the U.S. Navy’s elite pilot academy. It’s a perfect piece of military propaganda and cemented both Kilmer and Cruise as bonafide movie stars.  “Danger Zone” accompanied sweaty faces, fast motorcycles, and even faster jets. It was awesome and way far afield from the intent of Trump's shit-plane or the South Park dunk on Hegseth. 

When Loggins blasted Trump’s use of the song he said: “I can't imagine why anybody would want their music used or associated with something created with the sole purpose of dividing us. Too many people are trying to tear us apart, and we need to find new ways to come together. We're all Americans, and we're all patriotic. There is no 'us and them' – that's not who we are, nor is it what we should be. It's all of us. We're in this together, and it is my hope that we can embrace music as a way of celebrating and uniting each and every one of us."

It’s gotta suck to create a song that, for decades, captured this perfect masculine mythos of America, only to be ruined 40 years later with AI slop and an extended animated insult at the country’s senior most military officer. Sorry, Kenny. At least the South Park song was a little funny?