‘South Park’ Fans Thank the White House for the Show’s Streaming Explosion
South Park’s streaming numbers are up 258 percent following last week’s Season 27 premiere, “Sermon on the ‘Mount,” which isn’t bad for a show that “hasn’t been relevant in over 20 years,” according to its best promoter.
In the first South Park episode in over two years, Trey Parker and Matt Stone broke out the big guns as they ruthlessly roasted both President Donald Trump and their parent company, Paramount Global, which capitulated to the litigious leader in a $16 million settlement that set a dangerous precedent for the media industry. With “Sermon on the ‘Mount,” South Park called Trump as a small-dicked, Middle-Eastern dictator who launches frivolous lawsuits to silence critics of his unconstitutional regime, and they slammed Paramount for playing ball with America’s Saddam Hussein just to push through its acquisition deal with David Ellison’s company Skydance Media.
The very next day after “Sermon on the ‘Mount” aired, the White House put out an official statement responding to the South Park episode, calling the series “fourth-rate” and claiming that Parker and Stone’s scathing parody of our Glorious Leader is a “desperate attempt for attention.” But if that were the case, the attempt clearly worked, as South Park was the #1 show across streaming platforms following the premiere, possibly in partial thanks to the White House itself.
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In a viral thread from the South Park subreddit, South Park fans praised Trump and his press team for helping to make “Sermon on the ‘Mount” such a massive hit in one of the most embarrassing (mecha)Streisand effect incidents in White House history.
During the discussion about South Park’s industry-topping viewership metrics, fans of the show shared their stories about how “Sermon on the ‘Mount,” and the White House’s swift and triggered response to the parody brought in attention to the show from audiences that aren’t exactly Parker and Stone’s target demographic. “My 65-year-old boomer parents who’ve never seen an episode fired this one up,” one user wrote. “They thought it was hilarious and will be tuning in every week now. Matt and Trey cast the bait, and the White House took it hook, line and sinker like they knew he would. It was a brilliant play.”
Another South Park fan chimed in, “It’s honestly insane just how hard the White House took one of the least subtle baits in history. Getting mad at South Park for making fun of you is like getting mad at Weird Al for making a parody of your music. All it shows is that you have a stick up your ass.”
“They’re basically pulling a Kanye who never got over the fishsticks episode until recently,” one more user concurred.
Many other South Park fans celebrated the show’s boom in popularity with mocking references to the White House’s official stance on the series, such as one user who wrote, “Not bad at all for a ‘4th rate show.’”
Naturally, South Park’s streaming numbers were going to see a boost regardless of the topical issue tackled by the Season 27 premiere, seeing as South Park hasn’t aired a new episode in over two years and its creators have been all over the news as they publicly trashed their parent company. However, South Park probably doesn’t become the single most viewed and talked-about television show in the country if it doesn’t make a decisive and uncompromising stand against the President who recently gloated about pressuring Paramount into taking his critics off the air, and the White House’s response to the entire debacle was, ironically, free press.
Maybe so many millions of people wouldn’t have watched South Park call President Trump a small-dicked despot if he had just relaxed, guy.
