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Going south
'South Park' will be renamed 'South America' for its next series to poke fun at Trump
South Park has often ridiculed Trump, including airing an episode last year that featured the US president literally in bed with the devil.
THE NEXT SERIES of popular animated TV show South Park will be renamed South America in an apparent dig at US president Donald Trump.
“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 wrote in a statement.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order renaming the body of water shared by the US and Canada from Lake Ontario to Lake America, and last year, he renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Google Maps and Apple Maps have subsequently changed the names to Lake America and Gulf of America for users in the US.
The recent move has prompted criticism from the Canadians, with prime minister Mark Carney saying that the lake would be called Lake Ontario “then, now and always”. An Ontario premier also erected a 12ft sign on the shores of the lake, emblazoned with “Lake Ontario”.
South Park, which has been running since 1997 and is now in its 29th series, has won many awards, most recently an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program on Sunday.
It has often poked fun at Trump, including during its 27th season, where an episode aired depicting the US president in bed with Satan.
This prompted criticism from the White House, who called the show “fourth rate”, branding it irrelevant and “hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention”.
The statement by the creators on the renaming of the new series added: “We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount – a Skydance Capitulation.”
Paramount Skydance is the show’s parent company, which is set for an $111 billion (€95.57 billion) merger with Warner Brothers, one of the largest media deals in history.
An order was signed by Trump last year, but the deal has since been delayed to June next year after 12 states filed lawsuits against the merger for fear of it harming competition and leading to higher prices for consumers.
After winning the Emmy award on Sunday, the show creators posted an image of Trump on X, with the caption ‘You finally got your Emmy’.
It is unclear whether the renaming of the show will be permanent.
The new season of South Park will premiere on 16 September.
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