481
Trey Parker Says South Park Didn't Get Political, But "Politics Became Pop Culture"
(consequence.net)
this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025
481 points (97.1% liked)
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Reading the comments is weird because to me it feels like either people are unaware of the context, or are ignoring it on purpose.
His response was about this season’s unusual targeting of the administration. South Park was always political, but it is unusual for the show to focus so much on the current administration of the US, that’s what he was talking about and asked about.
Maybe he could’ve used different words but to me it’s clear what he meant.
It isn't unusual. South Park has dedicated an episode or three to mocking US and foreign politicians, NGOs, and popular figures going back to their first season. This feels like the old "When Did Star Trek Get Political?!" whine.
That hasn't been true in decades. The episode About Last Night... pillared both '08 presidential hopefuls. A year before that The Snuke bashed Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, a character who has appeared in no less than fifteen episodes. On the flip side, Bush Jr got an appearance in thirteen episodes, starting as early as 2001. And they weren't afraid of taking some deeper cuts, too. FFS, Gary Condit appeared three times.
The early seasons were largely an expression (abet, significantly more abstract relative to any sitting politician) of Matt and Trey's own libertarian brand of politics - including their takes on gay marriage, gun ownership, climate change, drug policy, state censorship, the anti-muslim/pro-war post-9/11 politics. And they tip-toed around naming names until they'd built up a brand.
But to imply the show wasn't critical of contemporary administrative policies, you really need to squeeze your eyes shut and refuse to read some pretty naked allegories and references.
To be clear, I didn’t say that it never did, what I said is that it never did >as much< as it’s doing now. Because in this season, so far, it’s been every single episode
:-/ South Park does news-of-the-day cartoons and the news-of-the-day is overwhelmingly this shit.
… hum, you lost me
News of the day != administration
Like, I’m double checking the article, what I wrote, what you wrote, and I find myself scratching my head if there’s something obvious that I am missing in the middle of all this
I’m reading the first two paragraphs and they show, clearly, that his quote is in reference to them talking about the administration this season. Which, as I said, it’s unusual how vicious and non stop it has been. (Deservedly, but that’s a tangent and another discussion)
This is what I was talking about, this was the point I made. I have no clue what you are talking about
It is when the administration is at the center of the news cycle day after day.
Yes, like what’s happening now. Thus, what he said
I used to think it's just a reddit thing but now I don't think anyone actually reads the article and instead just argues their interpretation of the article.
Dude, people dont even read the comment sometimes. Ive had people get super mega angry at me for the first sentence in a comment, and they had proceed to spew information at me... that I had put in the rest of the comment. It is 100% not just a reddit thing.
I think it's a bot and zealot thing.
They don't have enough buffer to fully process what you said so they take the smallest digestible chunk and extrapolate the argument they wanted to have.
Bots are weighted to use language that prompts an emotional response and zealots are genuinely frustrated that their ideals don't match reality.
What Lemmy lacks in bots it more than makes up for with tankies so blatant bad faith arguing is going nowhere.
The headline makes it sound outrageous with "get political".