"Tuesday had been Jimmy Kimmel Live! on the occasion of his return from suspension; Wednesday was South Park. There was intrigue around the new episode. After a blistering opening run to the season where the show drew new relevance for directly skewering the Trump administration - complete with giving the president the Saddam Hussein treatment, not to mention a micro-penis - it drifted into tricky territory in the wake of Charlie Kirk's September 10 assassination."
"The second episode from August 6, "Got a Nut," satirized Kirk, casting Eric Cartman as a Kirk-style campus debater right down to the coiffed hair. Kirk, who was apparently a big South Park fan, had embraced the jab on X, but Comedy Central still pulled the episode from its broadcast lineup after his killing, citing sensitivity, even as it remained on streaming. The move had a whiff of preemptive speech chilling - one that would be vulnerable to attacks regardless of intent."
"Kirk's executive producer, Andrew Colvet, protested that Kirk, a free-speech absolutist, wouldn't have wanted it pulled. So when the show delayed its latest episode by a week, against the backdrop of fresh state-induced censorship fears after the Kimmel fight, it wasn't hard to wonder if South Park was doubting its punches. For a famously freewheeling show that relishes mocking everyone from Mormons and environmentalists to MAGA nut jobs and the trans community, the prospect was unsettling: Had the chill caught up to even them?"
A viewer cleared their schedule to watch two consecutive primetime broadcasts: Jimmy Kimmel Live! and South Park. South Park opened the season by sharply satirizing the Trump administration, including depictions of Saddam Hussein treatment and a micro-penis. An August 6 episode, "Got a Nut," satirized Charlie Kirk by casting Cartman as a Kirk-style campus debater; Comedy Central pulled that episode from its broadcast lineup after Kirk's September 10 assassination while leaving it on streaming. That removal raised concerns about preemptive speech chilling. Kirk's executive producer protested. A delayed episode prompted worry about self-censorship, but "Conflict of Interest" returned to cultural satire.
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