South Park, newly renamed South America, returned last night – and went after Google for geographical gaslighting.Comedy Central/Supplied
South Park returned to Comedy Central for its 29th season on Wednesday night (streaming on Paramount+ Thursday morning) with a new name: South America.
The retitling is Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s scabrously satirical animated series taking aim at U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order designed to troll Canadians in the trade war by allegedly renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America.”
It is also a dig at the quisling tech giants such as Apple and Google that immediately changed the name of the Great Lake in their maps apps – in the United States, at least.
“Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to South America,” Parker and Stone explained in a statement preceding the season.
Opinion: Stupidity is an infinitely renewable resource with this U.S. administration
While the title change was a dramatic shift, the first episode of South America was more subtle in its satire about Google and its geographical gaslighting of Americans – certainly relative to last season’s main arc about Trump being in an abusive sexual relationship with Satan (which led to South Park winning first its Emmy Award for outstanding animated program in 13 years).
The long-running show continues to be about a group of profanity-spouting children, JOBFlocks continues to be unable to directly quote from about 50 per cent of its dialogue. Trump did appear in the opening credits, in the nude, rubbing an American flag back and forth across his perineum.
But South America’s premiere didn’t go straight for Google’s jugular – and instead, on the surface, seemed focused on the hot button issue of e-bikes.
The plot was about an escalating battle between Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny and other children riding them through the town and a group of healthy cycling dads led by Stan’s father annoyed by anyone not powering a bike with pedals.
Parker and Stone proved equal opportunity offenders as usual on the issue.
South America’s premiere, on the surface, seemed focused on the hot button issue of e-bikes.Comedy Central/Supplied
Cartman did, indeed, terrorize the town by riding on sidewalks – even using a dongle to make his e-bike exceed its intended speed limits.
But the creators also poked fun at the backlash against e-bikes when Stan’s dad exclaimed: “We need to get these kids off the streets and back inside on their phones.”
What this South America episode was really about, however, was American adults who get extremely outraged over a new physical technology such as e-bikes and fight to get it regulated – but who say nothing about the increasingly dangerous and unchecked power of tech companies and their fealty to the country’s aspiring authoritarian president.
Everyone from Stan’s father to the police chief kept going to Google to find out how “South America” dealt with various problems. This led to a series of escalating calamities.
The episode wrapped up with a stirring country ballad sung by Brad Paisley that was itself some geographical gaslighting: “We’ll always be South America. We won’t change for any one.”
Last season, South Park won its first Emmy Award for outstanding animated program in 13 years.Comedy Central/Supplied
What other TV satirists are saying
South Park was late to the party in mocking the president’s attempt to rename Lake Ontario on TV. Here are three of the best recent takes from Canadian and American satirists on “Lake America.”
This Hour has 22 Minutes
Canada’s long-running fake news program has, of course, been focused on the U.S.-Canada trade war since it returned to CBC and CBC Gem last week.
In a desk segment of the season premiere, cast member Chris Wilson poked fun at a war “that has escalated quickly and stupidly.” He then showed a clip of Trump’s televised stunt where he crossed out the words “Lake Ontario” on a map with a Sharpie and wrote in “Lake America” instead.
“Hey, you’re not the only one who can have fun with a marker Mr. President: Check this out,” Wilson said – and a picture of Trump with a scribbled-on Hitler mustache appeared on screen behind him.
The Daily Show
Co-host Jon Stewart returned to Comedy Central from summer holiday with an extended monologue about Trump’s meme war on Canada.
Stewart first expressed shock at an image Trump had posted on social media of him in hockey gear knocking Prime Minister Mark Carney down on the ice. “I can’t believe AI has got so advanced it can fit Trump’s ankles into ice skates,” he said.
Stewart then came to Canada’s defence in a more serious admonishment of the President’s online rhetoric about the trade war: “Canada is our second largest trading party: 60 per cent of our oil imports come from Canada, half of our timber; we get parts for cars and plane; not to mention 100 per cent of our Carly Rae Jepsen. Why would we be trolling them?”
The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon
NBC’s late-night host used the fake news about “Lake America” mainly as an intro to joke about one of Trump’s other recent social-media proposals to rename the state of New Mexico as “New America.”
“The new name kind of backfired, because most people heard New America and were like: ‘Thank God, because this current one is not that good,’” Fallon said.
While Fallon did not leap to Canada’s defence in his Lake America material, he signalled his friendship to our country on Monday night by hosting Quebec’s math-rock phenoms Angine de Poitrine in their U.S. TV debut.
The alien duo premiered a new song called Zugzegk – which sounds like one of the sounds Jon Stewart makes in exasperation at Trump every Monday on The Daily Show.