South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are not happy about Paramount’s decision to delay the premiere of Season 27 for two weeks — so much so that the writing duo took to the show’s social media accounts to make a statement claiming the Paramount and Skydance merger, which is still in progress, is “f—king up” their show.
“In response to the press release from Comedy Central about the change in premiere date for South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone said: ‘This merger is a s**tshow and it’s f**king up South Park,’” their statement read after the July 2 announcement from the network. “We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow.”
The pair dropped their statement just a half hour after the announcement went live, so there’s no denying that Parker and Stone feel a bit betrayed by the way their long-running hit is being treated amid Paramount’s restructuring. Season 26 of the series debuted over two years ago in March 2023 with only six episodes, with another three one-off episodes debuting between October of that year and March 2024.
— South Park (@SouthPark) July 2, 2025
Though Parker and Stone failed to mention specific aspects of the merger that have affected the show, Paramount (which owns South Park’s home network Comedy Central) has dealt with other release date changes amid the merger, as well as massive layoffs and straight-up cancellations.
Plus, the deal with Skydance is still technically pending until its deadline of July 7, which is just around the corner, as the FCC has yet to approve the merger nearly a year after it was announced.
Additionally, there’s a legal battle in process over the streaming rights for South Park. The exclusive rights were owned by HBO Max, but its deal expired in June, which leaves the episodes in limbo as Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have yet to reach a new agreement. The episodes are still available to watch on the streamer and talks to extend the contract are ongoing — but according to Variety, Parker and Stone claim incoming Paramount president Jeff Shell has interfered in negotiations with both WBD and Netflix.
Season 27 of South Park will now premiere on Comedy Central on July 23, rather than the original release date of July 9.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
