The new season of South Park was supposed to premiere on Comedy Central on July 9. But Comedy Central just announced the Season 27 will now take place on July 23, a two-week delay.
Series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are clearly not happy about it. A post on the official South Park Twitter/X account from the morning of July 2 reads…
“In response to the press release from Comedy Central about the change in premiere date for South Park Trey Parker & Matt Stone said — ‘This merger is a s—show and it’s f—ing up South Park. We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow.”
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The merger they are referring to is Skydance’s attempted acquisition of Comedy Central’s corporate owners, Paramount Global. At the same time, there is ongoing behind-the-scenes wrangling between Paramount and the South Park team over the streaming rights to the show. The series was previously streaming exclusively on HBO/Max, thanks to a deal worth a reported $500 million. That money gets split between the show (and Parker and Stone) and Paramount itself.
According to Deadline, Paramount wants South Park to stream exclusively on its own streaming service, Paramount+. But South Park has also been shopping its streaming rights to other companies and, per The Hollywood Reporter, Parker and Stone recently threatened legal action against Paramount, accusing the company of trying to force companies that were negotiating for the non-exclusive streaming rights to South Park to change their offers in a “‘manner calculated to benefit Paramount at the expense’ of Parker and Stone.
The shorter version: Parker and Stone believe that Paramount is trying to get South Park, which it is part owner of, for its own streaming service, which it also owns, and to do so on the most favorable terms possible — essentially creating an alleged conflict of interests. Meanwhile, you have ongoing negotiations for South Park amidst ongoing negotiations for Paramount as a whole. That has created, in Parker and Stone’s words, a s—show.
Time will tell how all of this resolves. The new season of South Park is now set to premiere on July 23. Lord knows this whole kerfuffle would make incredible fodder for a South Park episode … if Paramount allows it to air.
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