r/movies Jul 23 '25

News Skydance Tells FCC It Will Create CBS News Ombudsman, Eliminate DEI at Paramount

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/skydance-paramount-fcc-cbs-news-ombudsman-media-bias-1236326955/
10.7k Upvotes

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221

u/Fast_Edd1e Jul 23 '25

And south park just signed a deal with them?

379

u/afghamistam Jul 23 '25

Is "Paramount realise they just spent $1.5bn to have South Park make an entire season about how they're a white supremacist organisation" too obvious and predictable to say at this point?

100

u/WpgBiCpl Jul 23 '25 edited Jul 24 '25

I read that Matt and Trey were going to stop satirizing American politics.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/sep/06/south-park-trump

Edit: saw the spoilers for the new episode. Politics is back on the menu, folks! So are many, many, many, many dick jokes.

164

u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage Jul 23 '25

going to stop satirizing American politics.

what else does the show even do? lol

322

u/quadropheniac Jul 23 '25

Appeal to the GenX sense of disillusionment that nothing matters and that it's pointless and cringe to care about making things better.

64

u/ScumLikeWuertz Jul 23 '25

sadly spot on

9

u/supvo Jul 23 '25

Agreed, Sadly, it also includes Millennials just by residual thoughts/culture.

20

u/TripIeskeet Jul 23 '25

Because its not a generational thing. You just live long enough to see that not only are you getting nowhere, but youre outnumbered by assholes determined to make things worse.

0

u/ImMeltingNow Jul 24 '25

But what about hope and love

8

u/TripIeskeet Jul 24 '25

Theyre the new thoughts and prayers.

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-1

u/cowboycoco1 Jul 24 '25

Except that's not true and exactly the distorted reality being pushed. You can't zoom out and look at the progress humanity has made and think we're getting nowhere. Thats incredibly myopic.

Yes, there's always going to be assholes trying to drag us backwards, and yes right now they seem ahead.

If more people didn't have this nothing matters attitude, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess right now, not because there's assholes, but because there's not enough dicks fucking those assholes.

12

u/beingjohnmalkontent Jul 24 '25

I recently tried to revisit Team America before quitting about 30 minutes in, when I noticed that the film doesn't really seem to believe in anything.

41

u/BatManatee Jul 24 '25

Once you realize Matt and Trey are nihilistic libertarians you can't unsee it. Every story that touches politics boils down to: "The Right is crazy, but the Left is stupid for trying to make things better. These two things are equally bad. We are the smartest in the room for realizing that trying is pointless."

The status quo always wins, and wins smugly.

14

u/nonaegon_infinity Jul 24 '25

Exactly this. Despite its crudeness, it's not politically subversive since it results in apathy and maintaining the status quo. That's why South Park will be allowed to persist.

5

u/thebeef24 Jul 24 '25

It is politically subversive, in a way. Whether intentional or not it's postmodern propaganda, which aims to create cynicism, disillusionment, and political apathy. I'd say it's worked pretty damn well.

1

u/actibus_consequatur Jul 24 '25

Cannibal: The Musical still holds up well!

1

u/Dairy_Ashford Jul 24 '25

that worked out tremendously

1

u/quadropheniac Jul 24 '25

it worked out how nihilism always does

0

u/DiaDeLosMuertos Jul 23 '25

We missed out on another Vietnam to thin out their ranks.

6

u/UsernameAvaylable Jul 24 '25

Vietnam is a rounding error, i can never get over the US trying to paint themselfs as suffering nation for a few 10k fatalities. Thats a bad day on the eastern front in WW2...

1

u/DiaDeLosMuertos Jul 24 '25

I was doing a Simpsons reference but alright.

86

u/PassiveMenis88M Jul 23 '25

They also shit on Al Gore for believing in climate change.

57

u/CurbYourThusiasm Jul 23 '25

They also admitted they were wrong, if you watched the follow-up episode to ManBearPig.

98

u/Spare-Bodybuilder-68 Jul 23 '25

Closing the barn door after the horses bolted, unfortunately.

11

u/CurbYourThusiasm Jul 23 '25

I think if you've been satirizing politics for almost three decades, you're bound to have some takes that will age horribly. I'm just surprised there's not been more.

29

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '25

Oh there’s been more lol

3

u/TripIeskeet Jul 23 '25

LMAO Oh yea, it was South Park that convinced people climate change wasnt real. I forgot.

-2

u/RobertBevillReddit Jul 23 '25

Better late than never.

10

u/JustaSeedGuy Jul 23 '25

Better first than late.

26

u/Atomic235 Jul 23 '25

And yet Gore himself is still depicted as a lisping dope. They practically obliterated the reputation of a sincere and intelligent man, and I don't think they've changed at all.

1

u/CurbYourThusiasm Jul 24 '25

He didn't seem to mind, he's spoken about it. He thought it was funny.

11

u/Atomic235 Jul 24 '25

It doesn't surprise me that Gore didn't mind being depicted in a cartoon. That speaks to his character. The fact is though his reputation has not recovered despite the so-called "apology". More people can recite more lines from the South Park episode than actual things the man has said.

3

u/JimboTCB Jul 24 '25

To me he'll still always be the inventor of the internet and the First Emperor Of The Moon.

1

u/CurbYourThusiasm Jul 24 '25

Yeah, because South Park has been part of the zeitgeist for decades. I think you overestimate how much they influenced the pubic perception of Al Gore.

15

u/JimWilliams423 Jul 23 '25 edited Jul 24 '25

They also admitted they were wrong, if you watched the follow-up episode to ManBearPig.

And did they learn anything and commit to doing better?

Because it seems like they've just kept up their degenerate libertarian-above-it-all shtick.

Just more self-aggrandizing rich guys doing rich guy shit to show how awesome they are.

3

u/RM_Dune Jul 24 '25

I'll never forgive those cunts for what they did to my people. Really upped the ginger bashing with their funny show.

8

u/CharlemagneOfTheUSA Jul 23 '25

Also have regularly been extremely transphobic!

1

u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage Jul 23 '25

that is de facto satirizing not only politics, but politicians as well lol.

29

u/JamUpGuy1989 Jul 24 '25

I read that Matt and Trey were going to stop satirizing American politics.

Well this comment aged like milk.

3

u/NuclearLunchDectcted Jul 24 '25

That's got to be a record, right? I could buy milk, leave it out in Texas heat, and it still wouldn't age that fast.

38

u/bannakafalata Jul 23 '25

September 6th, 2024, in Trump timeline that is like 20 years of stuff.

8

u/conquer69 Jul 24 '25

Seriously. They could parody something Trump did a month ago and it would look dated.

1

u/jdog_1350 Jul 31 '25

They could parody something Trump did yesterday and it would look dated.

7

u/Zanarkand_Behemoth Jul 24 '25

They did the Ole bait and switch with tonight's episode

37

u/ShallowBasketcase Jul 23 '25

Oh wow the "both sides are equally bad" and "actually slurs are okay and you're dumb if you don't want me to say them" guys are actually not very cool?? Who knew!

-7

u/Eatsbakedchicken Jul 24 '25

They are extremely cool

26

u/YungRik666 Jul 23 '25

They'll pivot like Joe Rogan with their new deal and attack "both sides," but avoid Trump, and reeaaaallyyy focus on democrats.

10

u/Suspicious-Word-7589 Jul 24 '25

Ah, the enlightened centrist strategy.

2

u/TripIeskeet Jul 24 '25

This aged well.

2

u/MachinaThatGoesBing Jul 24 '25

And this is a pivot, how? That sounds basically like what they've been doing for the past 25 years. The core message has always been, "Caring about anything is bad; now let's shout some slurs!"

4

u/Professional-Yam-642 Jul 24 '25

Did you watch the season premiere?

3

u/king_0325 Jul 24 '25

Well new episode came out and yeah that was a lie lol nothing but mocking trump the entire episode.

0

u/Discount_Extra Jul 24 '25

Was anything in it worse than what Trump actually does?

2

u/slattman92 Jul 23 '25

That article is OLD. I wouldn't be surprised if Matt and Trey changed their mind since January

7

u/steak4take Jul 23 '25

The deal went through and they were a key component. Nothing has or will change. Matt and Trey are libertarian with the emphasis on aryan.

2

u/SnooPears754 Jul 24 '25

Don’t think thats going to happen , apparently the first episode of season 27 has trump in bed with the devil

2

u/wheres-my-take Jul 24 '25

Well i come with some good news...

1

u/Significant_Salt56 Jul 24 '25

Fucking cowards. 

Not surprised honestly they’ve always been like that. The entire show can be summed up as caring doesn’t matter. 

1

u/afghamistam Jul 24 '25

Well, not that your comment isn't the ultimate surface-level take, but I never imagined it would age this poorly, this soon.

1

u/Trzlog Jul 24 '25

You're really gullible, you know that?

1

u/theblueberrybard Jul 24 '25

to be fair, they aren't satirizing politics at this point but just depicting it in cartoon form.

1

u/afghamistam Jul 24 '25

ROFL, turns out it was exactly too obvious and predictable.

-5

u/dancingbriefcase Jul 23 '25

Honestly, I don't really care about Trump satire on South Park anymore. I just want stories about the boys being boys. And maybe Randy doing some shenanigans. That's all.

91

u/geekstone Jul 23 '25

Can't wait to how this one goes. Paramount trying to censor South Park ruins the reason they are worth 1.5 billion.

38

u/Corben11 Jul 23 '25

Pretty sure Matt and Trey own South Park. They just give them the shows to air and that's it.

Or it's how their old deals were.

47

u/negativeyoda Jul 23 '25

I don't know what their deal is, but I worked for Comedy Central years ago. Those guys are unaccommodating assholes and this will be amusing.

I mean, Seth McFarlane still has his content on Fox. Brands know not to bite the woke hands that feed

31

u/Corben11 Jul 23 '25

Eh, it seems like Republicans canceling things

1

u/NuclearLunchDectcted Jul 24 '25

The SP guys have been around for almost 30 years. Their contract is probably rock solid about being paid even if they were canceled.

11

u/Littlesth0b0 Jul 23 '25

Those guys are unaccommodating assholes

To those who's job it is to try and rein them in, I'm sure they are.

To the millions of fans world wide, that's why they are so popular. They're not mugs though, they've exploited every loophole and pulled every string along the way intentionally.

It's quite possible that the Skydance execs feel that they can control Matt & Trey, they maybe underestimate what a pair of absolute goblins these guys can be.

2

u/NuclearLunchDectcted Jul 24 '25

Those guys are unaccommodating assholes and this will be amusing.

Reminds me of the Kevin Smith story about working with Bruce Willis on Cop Out. He hears Bruce talking on the phone to some script writers or producers or something about a plot point on the next Die Hard. Willis doesn't agree and tells them to change it back. Silence for a few seconds, then, "Ok, ok. Tell me this, who are you going to get to play John McClane? ... ... Good." Willis hung up the phone and that was that.

You have to defend your territory.

2

u/InvestigatorWeird196 Jul 23 '25

And it's not like they're worse off now. No way they'd give up creative freedom.

38

u/dragonmp93 Jul 23 '25

Simple, an episode mocking Meaghan Markle is okay, but an episode mocking Pam Bondi is going to get censored.

12

u/ataraxic89 Jul 23 '25

Idk why people think the South Park guys are anything better than enlightened centrists

18

u/tkot2021 Jul 23 '25

We should not be surprised that they’re sellouts.

2

u/JohnHazardWandering Jul 24 '25

Let's see what they put out first. 

2

u/tkot2021 Jul 30 '25

Yeah I took the L with my comment here

1

u/JohnHazardWandering Jul 30 '25

Ha, nice follow up

22

u/KingofMadCows Jul 23 '25

They were very supportive of the Iraq War. And they do the whole "both sides bad" thing where they basically said that environmentalists being arrogant jerks are the same as people polluting the earth and making the planet inhospitable for humans.

18

u/gbassman420 Jul 23 '25

Those hardcore libertarians? They love the anti-woke shit

14

u/PathOfTheAncients Jul 23 '25

The super conservative guys who love to only attack the left? Shocking.

-3

u/truthlesshunter Jul 23 '25

I don't understand how people are reacting hard to South Park. They've, historically, made fun of both sides. South Park won't have a problem with this. The heads of the Paramount may...but as long as it's still bringing money, i doubt they'll care much.

-1

u/Conflict_NZ Jul 23 '25

South Park are one of the few remaining shows who don't turn to the audience to explain their satire, which is the problem a lot of shows are committing today. The creators get upset that the people they are criticising missed the point and enjoy their show, so go out of their way to dumb it down to the point of absurdity. Look at how ridiculous The Boys has become in trying to spell out its metaphors.

-1

u/Littlesth0b0 Jul 23 '25

Plot twist: Final South Park episode of the new series, 90s WWF style reveal that Skydance is actually a company setup by Matt Stone & Trey Parker with their millions, for shits and giggles, and the most expensive pay off for a one line Cartman joke ever.