The latest South Park special takes aim at Donald Trump with a level of vitriol rarely seen outside late-night monologues or legal depositions. But while the former president may appear to be the episode’s central target, some fans—and at least one X account—believe there’s something far more calculated going on behind the scenes.According to a viral thread by @Bloomser1, the new South Park isn’t just satire—it’s strategic sabotage. The theory? That Matt Stone and Trey Parker used Trump as bait to blow up their own parent company’s multibillion-dollar merger.The claim sounds outlandish until you trace the recent history between South Park, Paramount, and Donald Trump. And suddenly, it doesn’t sound so crazy after all.
A mess of lawsuits and billion-dollar deals
The trouble began years ago when Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO, sued Paramount over streaming rights to South Park. Paramount had sold HBO Max access to the back catalogue but later tried to move new specials and episodes to its own platform, Paramount+. Warner cried foul, and the lawsuit dragged on—creating chaos behind the scenes and complicating South Park’s production schedule.Enter Skydance Media. In 2024, Paramount began negotiations to merge with the studio in a bid to salvage its crumbling empire. But complications emerged, including a lawsuit from Donald Trump himself over a CBS interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.Desperate to remove any obstacle to the merger, Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle the suit. Skydance, eager to smooth things over, pledged another $20 million post-merger. All of this unfolded as the FCC—controlled by the current administration—delayed regulatory approval.Then came South Park.
Creative freedom? Not quite
According to @Bloomser1’s thread, Matt and Trey had been growing increasingly frustrated with the studio. The incoming Skydance executives reportedly interfered with the terms of their new deal, delayed production by two weeks, and even meddled in the creators’ negotiations with other platforms like Netflix and HBO. Two weeks ago, the duo reportedly threatened to sue Paramount themselves.Shortly after that, Paramount handed them a new $1.5 billion contract.And then—almost immediately—this episode aired.
Rage bait as revenge
The episode, savage in its depiction of Trump, arrived just one day after the Paramount–South Park deal was finalised. According to @Bloomser1, this timing is no accident.The theory is that Matt and Trey, furious over years of interference, used the episode to deliberately provoke Trump—hoping he’d retaliate by suing Paramount again or using his influence to derail the Skydance merger. It’s a high-risk, high-reward gambit: rage-baiting the most litigious man in America in order to punish a studio that, in their eyes, had long overstepped its bounds.The irony? They may have pulled this off the day after cashing a billion-dollar cheque from that same studio.
What happens next?
Neither Stone nor Parker have commented publicly on the theory, and there’s no confirmation that Trump plans to re-litigate anything—yet. But with the FCC still holding off on approving the Skydance-Paramount merger, and Trump known for acting on impulse, it wouldn’t take much to reignite tensions. If the episode was indeed designed as a trap, the question becomes: will Trump take the bait? Either way, South Park may have just turned studio politics into a blood sport—disguised, as always, in fart jokes and animation.