After almost 30 years, South Park still knows how to spark controversy. In the Season 27 premiere, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone spoofed President Donald Trump, putting him in awkward encounters with Satan. However, it’s the second episode of the season that’s pulling in a much larger audience.
On Aug. 6, the episode titled “Got a Nut” aired on Comedy Central and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, drew nearly twice the viewership of the premiere episode, “Sermon on the ‘Mount’.” This installment continued poking fun at the president while also taking shots at Vice President J.D. Vance, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The Aug. 6 premiere of “Got a Nut” on Comedy Central attracted 838,000 viewers, compared to the July 23 Season 27 opener, which brought in 430,000 viewers on the network. This made the second episode the third most-watched linear broadcast across the past three South Park seasons.
“Got a Nut” trails behind the March 2023 Season 26 episode “Deep Learning,” which spoofed the AI chatbot ChatGPT and drew 1.04 million viewers in its first airing. In second place is the February 2022 Season 25 premiere, “Pajama Day,” with 844,000 viewers.
South Park isn’t just winning in linear TV ratings—it’s also dominating streaming. According to FlixPatrol, it’s currently the No. 1 show on Paramount+ both worldwide and in the U.S. The Season 27 premiere amassed 5.9 million viewers within just three days of streaming on Paramount+ and other platforms. With results like that, the Aug. 6 episode is expected to surpass the premiere once its streaming numbers are in.
“Got a Nut,” which portrayed Noem as a plastic surgery–obsessed dog killer, was also the No. 2 prime-time show on Aug. 6 among adults aged 18 to 49, with that demographic making up about 455,000 of its total 838,000 viewers.
After the Aug. 6 episode, Vance—portrayed in the show as Trump’s servant—responded on X by quoting a post from the official South Park account and writing, “Well, I’ve finally made it.”
Noem’s reaction was quite different, which she shared during an appearance on Glenn Beck’s podcast. Although she admitted she hadn’t watched the episode, she criticized how she was portrayed.
But it’s so lazy to constantly make fun of women for how they look. It’s always the liberals and the extremists who do that. If they wanted to criticize my job, go ahead and do that, but clearly they can’t. They just pick something petty like that,
Noem said
The Trump White House also took aim at the season premiere. White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers stated,
Just like the creators of South Park, the Left has no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows. This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention.
A few days before the second episode aired on Comedy Central, the official X account for the Department of Homeland Security posted a still from the episode along with a recruitment link for ICE. The post drew a playful jab from the official South Park account, which quoted it with the caption, “Wait, so we ARE relevant? #eatabagofd**ks.”
New episodes of South Park air weekly on Comedy Central, and the new season is available to stream on 10Play for free.
Source: THR