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David Ellison and the Penis Politics of ‘South Park’

The would-be owner of Paramount scores the F.C.C. greenlight and survives the latest threat to the deal via Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose outrageous (and nude) parody of Trump comes days after one of the most contentious talent negotiations I’ve covered.

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone
It’s a bit surprising that last night’s South Park episode aired at all—not that creators Matt Stone, right, and Trey Parker, left, don’t poke at the president regularly, and often in crude and outrageous fashion. Photo: Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
July 25, 2025

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At this point, would anyone have been surprised if David Ellison and Shari Redstone had preempted 60 Minutes to personally and publicly declare Donald Trump the sexiest man alive? The kowtowing leading up to today’s F.C.C. greenlight of the $8 billion Skydance-Paramount deal has bordered on comical. Set aside the $16 million bribe—sorry, settlement—of the bogus CBS News lawsuit, or Trump going on TV to claim the real bribe is actually more than double that amount. By the end, Trump and Brendan Carr, his F.C.C. lapdog, were basically screaming Jump! over and over, with Ellison responding repeatedly, How high? When Dad agreed to buy David a Hollywood studio, it wasn’t supposed to be this… demeaning.