‘South Park’ creators ‘apologize’ for latest Trump episode: ‘We’re terribly sorry’

SAN DIEGO – The day after one of the most controversial episodes in the show’s history, “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone had a succinct response to the ruckus they caused.

“We’re terribly sorry,” Parker said with a sly grin at a Comedy Central’s Comic-Con animation panel next to Stone, “Beavis and Butt-Head” honcho Mike Judge and “Digiman” creator Andy Samberg.

The Season 27 premiere of “South Park” tore into President Donald Trump, showing him literally getting into bed naked with Satan, and referenced their Paramount bosses’ settlement with the president, the “60 Minutes” flap and the surprise cancellation of CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” All followed Wednesday by an agreement between Paramount and the “South Park” creators for 50 new episodes and a lucrative new streaming deal on Paramount+.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers slammed the episode in a statement to USA TODAY, calling “South Park” a “fourth-rate show” that “hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years.”

When Comic-Con panel moderator Josh Horowitz joked that he had a subpoena with him, Parker responded, “It’s fine; we’re ready.”

Parker and Stone talked at length about the speed of today’s topical comedy and making newsy jokes. “It’s not just ‘SNL’ anymore,” Stone said.

Parker revealed that they were at their studios this morning trying to figure out next week’s episode. “Right now we don’t know,” Parker said. “It’s super stressful.”

And when working on the July 23 season premiere, “three days ago I didn’t know if anyone’s going to like this,” Parker added. They were looking at newspapers and changing things on the fly right up until they needed to be done.

As far as big ideas for the season go, “my whiteboard’s blank, dude,” Parker said. So much so that when they were asked to do a summer promo video hyping the new season, they made up a bunch of scenes just for that sizzle reel. “You seriously think we went and made a bunch of shows ahead of time and banked them?”

Then Stone chimed in, mock seriously: “No politics. We’re not doing any of that (stuff).”

Stone said he feels most competitive with “what the kids are doing on TikTok and YouTube.” In fact, he and Parker admitted they now get a lot of their entertainment online and from social media. “We have a great gig, but I’m jealous. You see someone do something in their front yard and it’s really funny.”

Contributing: Brendan Morrow

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘South Park’ creators ‘apologize’ for Trump episode at Comic-Con