Comedy show “South Park” will not air a new episode this week as previously scheduled, but that decision appears unrelated to the shooting death of media personality Charlie Kirk, who the show parodied earlier this year.
“Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don’t get it done,” show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone said in a statement Wednesday. “This one’s on us. We didn’t get it done in time. Thanks to Comedy Central and South Park fans for being so understanding. Tune in next week!”
Going forward, “South Park” plans to release new episodes once every three weeks instead of every other week as it has done for far during season 27. Upcoming run dates on Comedy Central will be Sept. 24, Oct. 15, Oct. 29, Nov. 12, Nov. 26 and Dec. 10. Each episode is available to stream the next day on Paramount+.
“South Park” is the brainchild of Colorado natives (and Casa Bonita owners) Parker and Stone, who grew up on the Front Range, and it often pulls inspiration from current events to power the journey of its animated main characters – Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick.
After more than two years off air, the new season was highly anticipated and has drawn significant viewership for its skewering of the Trump Administration. In August, an episode called “Got A Nut” featured Immigration and Customs Enforcement raiding Ball Arena in Denver. In that episode, Cartman mimics Kirk as he “master debates” college students on women’s rights and other issues.
Following Kirk’s murder at one of his signature “Prove Me Wrong” events in Utah on Sept. 10, Comedy Central is no longer showing “Got A Nut” in its regular rotation. The episode is, however, still available on demand via Paramount+.
A spokesperson for Paramount offered no comment on what prompted the decision to air upcoming episodes once every three weeks.
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