Sermon on the 'Mount (South Park)

For other uses, see Sermon on the Mount (disambiguation).

"Sermon on the 'Mount"
South Park episode
Donald Trump in bed with Satan
Episode no.Season 27
Episode 1
Directed byTrey Parker
Written byTrey Parker
Production code2701
Original air dateJuly 23, 2025 (2025-07-23)
Guest appearance

"Sermon on the 'Mount" is the first episode of the twenty-seventh season of the American animated comedy television series South Park.[1] Premiering on July 23, 2025, it is the first traditional episode to be released in more than two years, and is the 329th episode of the series overall. The episode parodies the second presidency of Donald Trump, including legal actions taken by his administration, the Epstein Files, and the administration's focus on Christianity.[2] Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone also used the episode to criticize Paramount Global, the "'Mount" of the episode title, and the parent company of Comedy Central, which airs South Park. Paramount had recently settled a lawsuit filed by Trump for $16 million.[3]

Plot

Eric Cartman is angry that NPR is canceled due to its commentary on "woke" subjects. South Park Elementary is undergoing drastic changes due to the president's actions, and PC Principal invites Jesus to a school assembly. In response, the citizens of South Park confront Mr. Garrison, assuming he is still president. However, when they break down his door, they find out that Mr. Garrison has not been in the White House for years. In the White House, Donald Trump's talking head is seen on a South Park character body (similar to Saddam Hussein's appearance in South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut), sparring with the Canadian Prime Minister over tariffs, and getting in bed with Satan. While in bed together, Satan questions Trump's involvement with the Epstein files and makes fun of his penis size.

Cartman begins feeling depressed that "woke is dead", as it no longer allows him to feel special for his offensive attitude. He tells Butters Stotch that he is going to kill himself and Butters if woke is not back soon. The citizens of South Park then call Trump and voice their complaints, but Trump sues them into silence in response. Cartman later attempts his suicide with Butters via carbon monoxide poisoning by running a car in a garage with the door closed. The citizens put on a protest in the city park in another attempt to stand up to Trump. Jesus arrives at the protest and hushedly tells them through clenched teeth that because Trump is president and has the power to sue his enemies into silence, they have to back down or else they will get cancelled, just like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Gerald Broflovski manages to settle the lawsuit with Trump, but as part of the settlement, South Park has to produce messaging in support of Trump. A live-action public service announcement plays featuring a video of Trump walking in the desert before stripping himself nude and bearing a tiny penis. The episode ends with Cartman and Butters revealed to be still alive, as they were in an electric vehicle that does not produce carbon emissions.

Production

Series co-creator Trey Parker claims the team were told by their producers that they had to blur Trump's penis. They refused, and put eyes on it to make it a "character", which would not need to be blurred. He said the conversation about this lasted for four days. During production, Parker was worried that people would not like it.[4]

In addition to being reviewed by Paramount Global's standards and practices department, South Park executive producer Anne Garefino and Paramount COO Keyes Hill-Edgar asked Paramount's co-CEOs Chris McCarthy, George Cheeks, and Brian Robbins to review the episode since it would likely upset the Trump administration. The co-CEOs approved the episode but wanted Parker and Stone to describe their review to Shari Redstone; having not seen the episode, she trusted the co-CEOs' judgment, allowing the episode to be broadcast. David Ellison, who would become Paramount's CEO after their merger with Skydance Media closed, was told before the episode aired that it would be "disparaging" to Donald Trump.[5]

The ending scene featuring Trump was originally presumed to be fully deepfaked primarily because Parker and Stone's artificial intelligence company Deep Voodoo was included in the credits. Later, behind-the-scenes photos were released showing the scene being filmed,[6] although it was generally agreed that deepfaking was still used in the scene in order to make the actor playing Trump look more realistically like Trump.[7][8][9]

Release

"Sermon on the 'Mount" was first broadcast on July 23, 2025, on Comedy Central.[10] The episode premiered less than a day after Stone and Parker signed a $1.5 billion deal with Paramount.[11] In a thank you message to the CEO and COO of Paramount, Parker said that they are "focused on building something special and doing whatever it takes to bring championships to this city."[12]

While 430,000 viewers watched the original airing on Comedy Central, the episode reached number one status on Paramount+ as word began to spread about its content.[13][14] Cross-platform, the episode's ratings were reportedly a record high since 1999.[15][16]

Reception

Stuart Heritage from The Guardian called the episode a "grand dare" from Parker and Stone for Trump to sue them. He added that "Considering that South Park has always been known for its unvarnished satire, and for an extraordinarily responsive production process that allows it to comment on events almost until the moment of broadcast, the first episode of its 27th season always had the potential to sting. And since that first episode – entitled Sermon on the 'Mount – is a scorching critique of both Paramount's cowardice and Trump's eagerness to ride roughshod over his own voters, sting it does."[17] Rolling Stone writer Alan Sepinwall lauded the episode's scathing critique of the American president, writing "At precarious moments like this, certain things need to be said out loud, even if they're being packaged with juvenile dick jokes. When so many of their peers are too scared to offer even a mealy-mouthed version of criticism, Parker, Stone, and South Park just went for it."[18]

Trump administration response

The Trump administration was highly critical of the episode; an administration source reported to Deadline Hollywood that Trump was "seething over the childish attack by South Park". [19][20] Taylor Rogers, the White House Assistant Press Secretary, issued a statement to Rolling Stone and USA Today in response to the episode:

"The Left's hypocrisy truly has no end — for years they have come after South Park for what they labeled as 'offense' [sic] content, but suddenly they are praising the show. Just like the creators of South Park, the Left has no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows. This show hasn't been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention. President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country's history — and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump's hot streak."[21][22]

The day after the episode aired, Parker joked that he was "terribly sorry" for it at the South Park panel during San Diego Comic-Con.[4]

References

  1. ^ Amatulli, Jenna (July 24, 2025). "South Park targets Paramount after signing $1.5bn deal and skewers Trump: 'He can do anything to anyone'". The Guardian. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  2. ^ Boyle, Michael (July 24, 2025). "'South Park' Exposes Trump's 'Teeny Tiny' Manhood in Shocking Premiere". The Daily Beast. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  3. ^ Lincoln, Ross A. (July 24, 2025). "'South Park' Season Premiere Rips Paramount's Trump Settlement With Fake PSA: 'His Penis Is Teeny Tiny' | Video". TheWrap. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  4. ^ a b Cain, Sian (July 25, 2025). "'We're terribly sorry': South Park creators respond with humour to White House anger over naked Donald Trump". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
  5. ^ Belloni, Matthew (July 25, 2025). "How Did Paramount Let 'South Park Do THAT?". Puck. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
  6. ^ Stenzel, Wesley (July 29, 2025). "South Park reveals behind-the-scenes images of how explicit Trump shot came together". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 30, 2025.
  7. ^ Shanfeld, Ethan (July 24, 2025). "'South Park' Launches Website for Naked Trump Parody PSA: 'His Penis Is Teeny-Tiny, but His Love for Us Is Large'". Variety. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
  8. ^ Kile, Meredith (July 24, 2025). "South Park Airs Deepfake of Naked Donald Trump in Most Ruthless Reaction to Paramount Settlement Yet". People. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
  9. ^ McNab, JM (July 30, 2025). "South Park's Deepfake Trump Was Recycled From An Unproduced Movie". Cracked. Retrieved July 31, 2025.
  10. ^ Dunn, Jack (July 24, 2025). "'South Park' Season 27 Premiere Puts Donald Trump in Bed With Satan". Variety. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
  11. ^ James, Meg (July 21, 2025). "'South Park' creators reach $1.5-billion streaming deal with Paramount". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  12. ^ Madarang, Charisma (July 24, 2025). "'South Park' Skewers Trump and His 'Teeny Tiny' Manhood". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  13. ^ Bunch, Rebecca (July 24, 2025). "Wednesday TV Ratings 7/23/25: Match Game and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Premiere Solidly, South Park and Digman! Return Up from Finales, Big Brother Rises". The TV Ratings Guide. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  14. ^ Lund, Anthony (July 26, 2025). "'South Park' Absolutely Dominates Paramount+ in Wake of Season 27's Controversial Debut". Movie Web. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  15. ^ Spirlet, Thibault (July 31, 2025). "A 'South Park' episode that mocked Trump and CBS attracted almost 6 million viewers and broke a 26-year-old audience record". Business Insider. Retrieved August 7, 2025.
  16. ^ Alexander, Bryan (July 30, 2025). "'South Park' sets ratings record with Trump-skewering premiere". USA Today. Retrieved August 7, 2025.
  17. ^ Heritage, Stuart (July 24, 2025). "'South Park's most furious episode ever': the jaw-dropping Satanic takedown of Donald Trump". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved July 26, 2025.
  18. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (July 24, 2025). "Yes, 'South Park' Went There -- And It's Glorious". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 26, 2025.
  19. ^ Mastrangelo, Dominick (July 24, 2025). "'South Park' lays into Trump, Paramount after striking deal with company". The Hill. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  20. ^ Patten, Dominic. "'South Park' Mockery Has Trump Seething; White House Silent On Paramount Merger". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  21. ^ Perez, Andrew; Suebsaeng, Asawin (July 24, 2025). "Trump White House Rages Over 'South Park' Episode, Calls Show 'Fourth-Rate'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  22. ^ Morrow, Brendan (July 24, 2025). "'South Park' skewers Paramount over Colbert cancellation, mocks Donald Trump in premiere". USA Today. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
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