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South Park took aim at Saudi Arabia’s sponsorship of stand-up comedy and professional sport and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s obsession with social media in this week’s Thanksgiving-themed episode.
In the new episode “Turkey Trot” that aired Wednesday, the town’s annual Turkey Trot turns to Saudi Arabia for sponsorship. Meanwhile, Hegseth arrives with the Department of War and mistakes the event for an Antifa uprising.
The episode made repeated reference to the controversy over this October’s Riyadh Comedy Festival, where high-profile comedians, including Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Kevin Hart, Louis C.K., Jimmy Carr and Jack Whitehall received substantial fees in exchange for performing while agreeing not to make jokes about religions or Saudi royals.
In the episode, the townsfolk speculate about whether Saudi Arabia will sponsor their own event, concluding: “I mean, they’re giving money to everyone else. Why not us?”
A promotional video for the race then contains the phrase: “Disparaging remarks towards the Saudi royal family are strictly prohibited.”
Later in the episode, Cartman argues with Tolkien Black, who has decided not to take part in the event because of the involvement of Saudi Arabia.
Cartman and Tolkien argue over Saudi Arabia in the Thanksgiving-themed South Park episode ‘Turkey Trot’ (Comedy Central)
“What, Tolkien, you don’t like that Saudi Arabia is buying American stuff?” asks Cartman. “They’re trying to be progressive, OK? You want them to go back to what they were doing? Do you want Saudi Arabia to just go back to cutting people up and paying Kevin Hart? Is that what you want? You can’t whine about a country trying to come into the 21st century.”
The character of Hegseth spends much of the episode convincing his Department of War soldiers to help him shoot content, while he pleads with his viewers to “like and subscribe.”
Earlier this month, South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker said in an interview that they have found politics impossible to avoid this season.
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“It’s not that we got all political,” Parker told The New York Times. “It’s that politics became pop culture.”
Stone added that speaking out against the Trump administration had become “taboo.” He continued: “Trey and I are attracted to that like flies to honey. Oh, that’s where the taboo is? Over there? OK, then we’re over there.”
Parker went on to clarify that their targets can come from all sides of the political spectrum.
“We’re just very down-the-middle guys,” he said. “Any extremists of any kind, we make fun of. We did it for years with the woke thing. That was hilarious to us. And this is hilarious to us.”
