“South Park” Season 28 delivered a Thanksgiving special on Wednesday, which saw the citizens of the Colorado mountain town running in the annual Turkey Trot while United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth tried to bust Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel out of jail.
The episode opens with the South Park City Council debating who should sponsor the Thanksgiving 5K. Many of the town’s citizens fell on hard times in recent months, meaning local businesses and former sponsors can’t find the funds. However, there is one foreign entity that is flush with cash and eager to spend.
The show then cuts to a live-action commercial for the annual South Park Turkey Trot featuring the sponsor for 2025: Saudi Arabia. The ad sets this year’s top prize at a whopping $5,000, but it also makes sure to mention that “disparaging remarks towards the Saudi Royal family are strictly prohibited.”
Meanwhile, at the Park County Police Station, Sergeant Yates gets an unexpected visit from Hegseth, who demands they release Thiel from custody.
In grandiose fashion, Hegeth rappels from the roof into the station. Flanked by two National Guard soldiers live-streaming on their phones, he tells his viewers, “Hey, what’s up, guys? This is Pete Hegseth with the Department of War! We’re here to infiltrate this police station and extract a P.O.I. ’cause that’s what we do!”
Despite his efforts to intimidate Sergeant Yates, he easily kicks Hegseth out, denying his request to release Thiel.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone brought the show back to more typical “South Park” antics this week after primarily focusing on Donald Trump-centric storylines in previous episodes. Parker and Stone have put the president in some seriously compromising positions throughout Seasons 27 and 28, including in bed with Satan and Vice President JD Vance. In the Season 27 Premiere, they deepfaked Trump into a political PSA which boasted about his “teeny-tiny” manhood.
While shows like “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” have caught heat from Trump for far less, “South Park” has largely avoided the president’s crosshairs. During a recent appearance on The Daily Beast’s “Last Laugh” podcast, comedian Patton Oswald said Trump respects the success of “South Park,” and that’s why he hasn’t brought the hammer down.
“‘South Park,’ not only does it make insane amount of some money, it gets insane ratings,” Oswald said. “And Trump can only be so angry at that, because what Trump ultimately will respect, even if it doesn’t respect him, is something where the numbers are through the roof, and the money is through the roof. He can’t look at ‘South Park’ and see how brilliant it is, and he can’t look at something like John Oliver and see how equally brilliant it is. All he can think of in terms of, look at this guy’s numbers, look at their numbers, and that’s the only way he sees the world.”
