In light of Donald Trump’s attempts to rename a gulf, lakes and even states after “America,” South Park, the animated satirical program that has long skewered those in power, has announced an official name change. For its 29th season, the Comedy Central series will be known as “South America”.
“Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA,” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker said in a statement. “We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount — a Skydance Capitulation.” The show’s parent company, Paramount Skydance, owned by Trump ally David Ellison, is poised to become one of the biggest media conglomerates in the US after the Trump administration approved its $111bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), drawing much creative industry backlash.
The tongue-in-cheek news comes a day after the US president suggested on social media that the state of New Mexico should be renamed “New America” with an AI-generated video that depicted him placing the word “America” over “Mexico” on a “welcome to New Mexico” sign. (The US federal government has no authority to change a state’s name.) The post drew swift condemnation from Democrats, who accused him of trying to distract from his war in Iran and rising prices.
The renaming brouhaha is now a standard Trump move, dating back to the early hours of his second term, when he moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”. Last month, as trade tensions escalated between the US and Canada, the administration tried to do the same with Lake Ontario, pushing to relabel it “Lake America”.
The Emmy-winning, gleefully offensive comedy series, which first aired in 1997, has long been a thorn in the Trump administration’s side, as one of the few programs to successfully ridicule and ambitiously poke at an administration often resistant to satire. Creators Parker and Stone have repeatedly drawn ire from Trump and other Maga figures for, among other things, depicting Trump naked in bed with Satan, showing an animated Trump with small genitalia and portraying former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem as a puppy killer whose Botoxed face occasionally melts off.
In August, a writer for the show announced that he purchased the rights to trumpkennedycenter.org, predicting that Trump would change the name of the Kennedy Center after he purged the leadership of the arts institution, installed himself as chair and stocked the board with loyalists.
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The 29th season of “South America” will premiere on 16 September, and stream globally on Paramount+.