Stephen Colbert has praised South Park’s recent parody of Donald Trump, describing it as “an important message of hope”.
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Season 27 of the show debuted following a period of uncertainty for the show, which saw its premiere date moved back. In the opening episode, the US President was depicted as being in a sexual relationship with Satan, mirroring a storyline involving Saddam Hussein in the 1998 film South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.
The episode also depicted the politician naked, portraying him with a micro penis. Jokes about the President’s manhood occurred throughout the story, which also took shots at parent company, Paramount, which earlier this month announced it would be ending The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
Regarding criticism of the President, The White House released a statement attacking the show, saying: “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”.
Colbert, however – whose criticism of Trump is speculated to be a reason behind his show ending – praised the episode during an opening monologue on Thursday (July 24).
When discussing a move by the Trump Administration to ensure minimal government intervention on private AI models, the host quipped: “I completely agree with him on this one, because, if the government interfered with private AI, innovators at South Park wouldn’t be able to make important videos like this one”.
He then played the clip of Trump naked on the show, commenting: “That is an important message of hope for our times”.
Verbal barbs were exchanged between Colbert and Trump over the cancellation of the late night chat show. The President claimed: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired”; while the host addressed the situation by telling the politician: “Go fuck yourself”.