South Park co-creator Matt Stone has insisted last week’s episode was not delayed due to censorship — as so many have suggested. Rather, Stone insisted it had to do with simply failing to complete the work on time.
Last week, Comedy Central delayed the latest episode of South Park just hours before it was due to air. Co-creators Trey Parker and Stone issued a statement at the time insisting the blame lay at their door.
“Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don’t get it done,” the statement read, as reported by Variety. “This one’s on us. We didn’t get it done in time. Thanks to Comedy Central and South Park fans for being so understanding. Tune in next week!”
Parker and Stone create each episode week-by-week, which makes for a chaotic production but topical shows. But they have switched to a bi-weekly schedule for this season, with the elongated production time allowing the pair more room to work on each episode, something Paramount is reportedly happy with.
It’s worth noting that during their San Diego Comic-Con 2025 panel, which took place the day after the Donald Trump-skewering Season 27 opener aired, Parker said the pair were unsure what the next episode would be, revealing the decision was “super stressful.”
As far as we at IGN are aware, Parker and Stone have missed the scheduled release of South Park just once before, due to a power outage, but never for not getting an episode done in time.
The delay sparked speculation that the episode was pulled out of fear of reprisal following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, an ally of Donald Trump who was shot at a Utah university on Wednesday, September 10. Comedy Central had pulled the scheduled repeat of the recent South Park Season 27, Episode 2, titled Got a Nut, in which Eric Cartman cosplays as Charlie Kirk, becomes a right-wing podcaster and issues messages similar to those used by Kirk in the past as he "masterdebaters" college graduates. Cartman even dishes out an award called 'The Charlie Kirk Award for Young Masterdebaters.'
Kirk had responded to the episode at the time in a TikTok post, calling it “hilarious” and even saying “South Park gets this right. I think they've been watching a lot of Charlie Kirk videos.” He added: “We have a good spirit about being made fun of. This is all a success, this is all a win. We as conservatives, we have thick skin, not thin skin, and you can make fun of us and it doesn’t matter.”
Some MAGA conservatives had hit out at South Park, drawing a line between the show and Kirk’s murder. Kirk was not mentioned in Parker and Stone's statement. Now, in a new interview with The Denver Post, Stone insisted alleged censorship had nothing to do with the decision, and reiterated the prior statement.
“No one pulled the episode, no one censored us, and you know we’d say so if true,” Stone said. “We just didn’t get it done. When you always cut it close, sometimes you mess up. That’s the price of being a procrastinator.”
The newest episode, the first since Kirk’s death, is due out this Wednesday, September 24. Stone said: “It’s gonna be great.”
South Park’s recent episodes have drawn some of the series' best-ever ratings, as well as global attention, for their no holds barred depiction of President Trump. But the episodes are taking longer to produce, with just four arriving in the eight weeks since Season 27's debut.
Variety reported South Park will then take a further two weeks off before resuming its bi-weekly schedule from October 15 to December 10.
Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Paramount+.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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