“South Park” fans are anxious for the adult cartoon to return.
Season 27 was initially supposed to premiere on Comedy Central on July 9, but
the release date was pushed back to Wednesday, July 23
amid Skydance Media’s pending acquisition of Comedy Central’s parent company, Paramount Network.
“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone
reacted to the delay via X
.
“This merger is a s–tshow 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,” the comedy duo said in their statement.
Back in 2007, Parker and Stone’s company, Park County, signed a streaming deal with Paramount that gave them 50 percent of South Park’s streaming revenue. The deal expired in June.
Parker and Stone intended to extend their deal with Paramount, but contract negotiations have stalled since Skydance became involved. The duo have hired attorney Bryan Freedman and
threatened legal action against Skydance
CEO David Ellison and Jeff Shell, who will become the new Paramount president if the Skydance merger is finalized. Parker and Stone have accused Skydance of interfering in contract negotiations.
In June, a Skydance rep told
The Hollywood Reporter
, that “under the terms of the transaction agreement, Skydance has the right to approve material contracts.”
READ MORE:
‘South Park’ was quietly dropped by Paramount Plus. Here are two places you can still watch it
“South Park” was removed from Paramount+ outside of the U.S. earlier this week after Paramount+’s license to stream the series expired. For those inside the U.S., the animated series is still available to stream on HBO Max.
As of now, “South Park” is still set to return to Comedy Central on July 23. Time will tell if Park County and Paramount can reach a new streaming agreement before then.
Skydance made headlines again this week after Stephen Colbert announced that
CBS is canceling the “Late Show”
in 2026. The decision came days after Colbert criticized Paramount Global’s $16 million
lawsuit settlement with President Donald Trump
.
“I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: it’s big fat bribe,” Colbert said during his “Late Show” monologue on Monday, July 14. “Because this all comes as Paramount’s owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance.”
In a statement shared with
Deadline
on Thursday, July 17, CBS execs George Cheeks, Amy Reisenbach, and David Stapf said that the “Late Show” cancelation was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” and was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
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