In the wake of the assassination of conservative media personality Charlie Kirk, Comedy Central has elected not to re-air an episode of the latest season of “South Park” that poked fun at Kirk.
The episode — titled “Got a Nut” — aired back on August 6 and was scheduled to air a re-run on Wednesday night, but the cable network owned by Paramount and Skydance pulled the episode after Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. The episode remains available for streaming on Paramount+.
Some conservatives, including at least one at Kirk’s Turning Point USA, wrote on Telegram (via the New York Post), “Comedy has consequences. Charlie was targeted in the culture before he was targeted in real life.” Other right-wing figures have directed blame at “South Park” for the disturbing act of political violence as well.
Related Stories
But Kirk himself was a fan of the episode after it aired, calling it “hilarious,” and saying he could tell “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker had been watching some episodes of his show. You can watch his reaction via TikTok.
“Our ‘Prove Me Wrongs,’ our viral, cultural domination on primetime on Comedy Central. So impactful, so important, that ‘South Park’ is highlighting it,” Kirk said. He went on to refer to a Bible verse, of which he said the show “gets this right,” and showed a clip in which Cartman, with a haircut to resemble Kirk’s own, becomes a “master debater” and fires back at a weepy college student…all while he’s sitting on the toilet with his laptop.
“There’s going to be a lot said about this, but we need to have a good spirit about being made fun of. This is all a success, this is all a win. We as conservatives, we have thick skin, not thin skin, and you can make fun of us, and it doesn’t matter,” Kirk said. “And until next time, I hope all of you become master debaters for truth,” with Kirk making sure he clearly pronounced each of those separate words in “master debaters.”
The episode also showcased “The Charlie Kirk Awards” celebrating young people who have been “furiously master debating” and are using “master debation” to save America. The episode shows Cartman effectively becoming Kirk after he realizes another kid at school, Clyde, is very casually getting a huge following doing simple Prove Me Wrong videos, effectively stealing what has become Eric Cartman’s calling card for the past 25+ years of television.
This season of “South Park” has been all over the MAGA crowd, and its lampooning of Kirk was arguably tame in comparison to how it has depicted President Trump and the Trump administration’s Kristi Noem in the same episode as Kirk. The episode saw Noem repeatedly shooting dogs in the face in a reference to Noem admitting in her book that she had shot and killed her 14-month-old dog. The show has also frequently shown Trump stripping down naked, mocking what they say is his small penis, and even showed an AI-generated Trump stumbling naked through the desert like a wandering messiah. While Kirk won’t be the subject of the show’s satire any further, don’t expect Matt and Trey to hold back on others moving forward.
“South Park” airs on Wednesdays on Comedy Central.
