Patton Oswalt thinks there’s one reason Donald Trump hasn’t attacked “South Park” for roasting him the way he has nearly every late-night show: “insane ratings.”
While talking on The Daily Beast’s “Last Laugh” podcast on Tuesday, the comedian turned to Trump’s choice on who to attack and who to ignore. Oswalt pointed out that Trump always mentions Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert’s ratings when going after them but he can’t do that with “South Park” because it’s successful.
“Nothing shuts Trump up like money,” Oswalt said. “He can argue that Stephen Colbert isn’t getting the ratings and isn’t making the money, even though the show is brilliant. But it’s not that Stephen Colbert is slipping in the ratings, it’s that the whole infrastructure of late-night television is slipping.”
The comedian added: “‘South Park,’ not only does it make insane amount of money, it gets insane ratings. And Trump can only be so angry at that, because what Trump ultimately will respect, even if it doesn’t respect him, is something where the numbers are through the roof, and the money is through the roof. He can’t look at ‘South Park’ and see how brilliant it is, and he can’t look at something like John Oliver and see how equally brilliant it is. All he can think of in terms of, look at this guy’s numbers, look at their numbers, and that’s the only way he sees the world.”
In the past, Trump has loudly celebrated CBS’ choice to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” effective in May 2026, and when ABC briefly pulled Kimmel from the air after comments made in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The president even went back on the ABC warpath this week calling for Kimmel’s removal again.
“Why does ABC Fake News keep Jimmy Kimmel, a man with NO TALENT and VERY POOR TELEVISION RATINGS, on the air? Why do the TV Syndicates put up with it? Also, totally biased coverage,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Get the bum off the air!!!”
“South Park” has gotten away with far more scathing takedown of the president than any late-night host but has not suffered a peep from Trump. The most recent episodes have shown Trump in a relationship with Satan and even a leaked sex tape between him and Vice President JD Vance. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone told the New York Times that despite their commentary on the president, they’ve had no pushback from Paramount.
“I know with the Colbert thing and all the Trump stuff, people think certain things,” Stone said. “But they’re letting us do whatever we want, to their credit.”
“It’s not that we got all political,” Parker added. “It’s that politics became pop culture.”
Stone finished: “Trey and I are attracted to that like flies to honey. Oh, that’s where the taboo is? Over there? OK, then we’re over there.”
