After its headline-making Season 27 premiere last week, “South Park” is taking this week off. The series announced the pause in a video posted on South Park Studios’ YouTube page.
Despite what you may be thinking, this pause has nothing to do with waiting for things to cool down with the Trump administration. A teaser for the upcoming episode shows the series’ new Trump flirting with Satan at a black tie dinner. Watch the full teaser below:
The episode also teases a confrontation between Cartman and Bebe, one of the girls who goes to South Park Elementary.
“You can just shut up, Bebe, because you hate America and love abortion,” Cartman says as he’s backed by PC Principal. The head of the school used to be “Politically Correct” Principal before he was rebranded to become “Power Christian” Principal this season.
It’s not unusual for “South Park” to take breaks throughout the season. This week’s hiatus was preplanned, an insider familiar with the matter told TheWrap. Instead of a new episode this week, Comedy Central will air an encore of the viral Season 27 premiere. Episode 2 will then premiere next Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
“South Park” has been mocking Donald Trump for years. Starting in 2015, the show introduced the boys’ teacher Mr. Garrison as its Trump stand-in. Coated in orange makeup with a mop of blonde hair, Mr. Garrison was never explicitly called “Donald Trump,” but he was referred to as the President for years, and his mannerisms mirrored that of the world leader.
But in the first episode of Season 27, “South Park” drastically upped the ante of its Trump mockery, introducing a character by the name of Donald Trump who was animated just like Saddam Hussein in “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.” And just like the former dictator of Iraq, this new Trump is the abusive partner in a relationship with the literal devil. It’s impossible to know what Matt Stone or Trey Parker are going to do next, but one thing’s for sure: They’re not backing down from Trump.
