“South Park” trolls Homeland Security for using show in ICE recruitment post
On Tuesday, Aug 6, South Park clapped back at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on social media. The federal agency used a teaser image from the satirical TV show to promote recruitment for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on X. The animated series didn’t take the unexpected co-sign lightly.
Responding in classic South Park fashion, the show’s official X account fired off a snarky post, asking, "Wait, so we ARE relevant? #eatabagofd*cks." While the comment was crude, it reflected the show’s signature irreverence and refusal to play nice, even with the federal government. The show's QRT has been viewed over 10.5 million times with over 29K retweets.
The promo image, taken from the teaser trailer for Season 27’s second episode, showed masked ICE officers cruising through South Park in vans. The teaser also included Mr. Mackey riding alongside the agents with an AR-15 of his own. The implication in the episode is that ICE would raid the fictional town.
This snippet quickly went viral, garnering over 1 million views and 33K likes on YouTube. Meanwhile, the full episode is set to air this week on Comedy Central.
DHS tries uses South Park for ICE recruitment
The agency’s use of this teaser image to recruit for ICE left fans of the show confused and angry. Even more so, it caught the attention of the show’s creators.
The Homeland Security promo came just days after South Park torched President Donald Trump in the July 23 premiere. In the episode, an animated Trump lies in bed with Satan and laments his micropenis. Unsurprisingly, the White House did not appreciate the depiction.
In response, the White House issued an official statement to Variety, stating, "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." The statement went on to call South Park a "fourth-rate show."
In the second episode of the season, the show doubled down, and the animated Trump attends a dinner party where he gropes Satan’s leg under the table, as seen in the teaser clip.
South Park is more popular than ever
Despite the shade, South Park’s numbers told a different story. The Season 27 premiere drew 5.9 million viewers across Comedy Central and Paramount+ within its first three days, per Nielsen and internal reports. That made it the show’s biggest season premiere since 1999.
Titled "Sermon on the 'Mount," it also took jabs at Paramount Global, Comedy Central’s parent company. Not only that, the show’s co-creator Trey Parker made an appearance at Comic-Con in San Diego to apologize for the episode, saying mockingly, "We’re terribly sorry" to anyone they may have offended with the new episode.
South Park's creators didn't pull their punches with the season premiere, and many fans hope that they continue on that trajectory with the rest of the season.
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