NEW: South Park features Cartman as Charlie Kirk in new episode

In a trailer posted by the South Park X account, Cartman can be seen with hair that resembles Kirk, sitting at a table with a microphone as Kirk does during his debates with students on college campuses.

https://twitter.com/SouthPark/status/1950280375248507381

“You can just shut up, Bebe,” Cartman says in the trailer. “You hate America and love abortion.”

Kirk responded to the South Park clip by making Cartman his profile picture on X, and responding, "I'm so watching this."

https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1950276847981514994?s=46&t=bhRsCFycz_nOQT66mhEqCA

The show is now on its 27th season, kicking off with controversy after starting a plot line that features recurring character Satan and President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers condemned the show in remarks to multiple outlets, calling South Park a “fourth-rate” program that “hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread of uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention.”

The episode also showed Trump engaged in a heated argument with the Canadian prime minister and included a scene in which Satan suggests the president is linked to the Epstein scandal. At one point, Satan tells Trump, “I heard you’re on the Epstein list,” as Trump gets into bed with him.

Co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone said this week that they faced pushback from network executives over some of the more graphic joke involving Trump, as the show now airs on Paramount+, with Comedy Central still also airing the new episodes.

Speaking during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, Parker said there was internal friction with Comedy Central over whether to include the scene showing an unflattering depiction of Trump’s genitals, according to Fox News.

The creators appeared alongside fellow animation legends Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill) as well as Saturday Night Live alumni Andy Samberg, and responded to a question from panel moderator Josh Horowitz about the public's reaction to the episode. Parker quipped, “We’re terribly sorry.”

The two said that the episode was finalized just days before airing. “Just three days ago, we were going, ‘I don’t know if people are going to like this,’” Parker recalled.

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