New ‘South Park’ Episode Targets Trump’s D.C. Takeover

Topline

“South Park” will skewer President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of the Washington, D.C., police force in a new episode Wednesday night, according to a trailer posted to social media, marking the show’s latest dig at the Trump administration.

“South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker skewer the Trump administration again on a new episode. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Paramount+)

Getty Images for Paramount+

Key Facts

“South Park” posted a trailer announcing the upcoming episode, “Sickofancy,” which depicts recurring character Towelie, a talking towel who often smokes marijuana, taking a bus ride to Washington, D.C.

The excerpt shows Towelie passing the Supreme Court building and the White House, both of which have U.S. Army troops and military tanks stationed outside.

Towelie, whom creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have described as the “lamest character ever” and is known for his catchphrase, “Don’t forget to bring a towel,” gleefully remarks the White House seems like the “perfect place for a towel” in the trailer.

“Sickofancy” is the third episode of “South Park” season 27, and it appears to be the third episode in a row that takes aim at the Trump administration.

When Does The New “south Park” Episode Air?

The new “South Park” episode airs Wednesday night at 10 p.m. EDT on Comedy Central. The episode will be available to stream on Paramount+ the following day.

How Has “south Park” Targeted The Trump Administration?

The first two episodes of the new “South Park” season both provoked the ire of the Trump administration for skewering some of its key figures. The White House called “South Park” a “fourth-rate” show that “hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years” after the season premiere depicted Trump as Satan’s lover and made frequent jabs over the size of his cartoon portrayal’s genitals. The first episode also blasted Paramount over its settlement with the Trump administration, its merger with Skydance and the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s late-night show. In episode two, the show lampooned Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. In the episode, recurring character Mr. Mackey joins ICE after he loses his job following Trump’s Department of Education budget cuts, and ICE is depicted raiding a live production of “Dora the Explorer.” Throughout the episode, the fictionalized Noem shoots multiple dogs, a reference to her own claim that she once shot and killed her dog because of its aggressive behavior, and her character’s Botox procedure occasionally melts off her face. Noem called the portrayal “petty” and said it is “so lazy to constantly make fun of women for how they look.”

Tangent

“South Park”’s satirization of the Trump administration has sparked a big increase in viewership. The latest episode’s Comedy Central broadcast earned twice as many views as the season premiere, drawing 838,000 viewers on Aug. 6—up from the 430,000 who viewed the season premiere on July 23. Cross-platform viewing, including the Comedy Central broadcast and streaming on Paramount+, also rose for the second episode of season 27. Episode two earned more than 6.2 million cross-platform views in its first three days, up from the 5.9 million who watched episode one in its first three days.

Key Background

The new episode comes more than a week after Trump said the federal government would take control of the Washington, D.C., police force to deal with what Trump called “crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor,” though the city’s violent crime rate hit a 30-year low in 2024. Hundreds of National Guard troops have been deployed to the city, and the Republican governors of six states said this week they would also send National Guard troops to the city. Washington, D.C. attorney general Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit against the administration, arguing the police force takeover is a “brazen usurpation of the district’s authority.”