Donald Trump's recent obsession with renaming geographical features has drawn mockery from an unexpected corner: the creators of the long-running animated satire South Park. Trey Parker and Matt Stone announced that their show will now be called South America, a pointed jab at the US president's executive orders and social media suggestions to rebrand everything from Lake Ontario to New Mexico.
The name change, timed to coincide with the premiere of the show's new season next week, is a direct response to Trump's push to rename Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' and his AI-generated proposal to call New Mexico 'New America'. The president has also claimed the Moon is American, prompting the satirists to simplify matters by renaming their own show.
In a statement, Parker and Stone said: “Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA. We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount - a Skydance Capitulation.” The reference to Apple and Google is a dig at the tech giants, which have updated their maps to reflect Trump's renamings, a move critics have called cowardly.
A history of mocking Trump
This is not the first time Parker and Stone have targeted Trump. Over the years, the show has depicted the former president in a relationship with Satan, shown him with tiny genitalia, and portrayed former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem as a Botoxed puppy killer. The creators have consistently used their platform to ridicule the administration's excesses.
The announcement comes on the heels of South Park winning its fifth Emmy for Best Animated Show on Sunday. The creators used the occasion to take another swipe at Trump, posting an image on Instagram of the president clutching the award with his underwear around his ankles, captioned “You finally got your Emmy.”
Trump has long complained about the Emmys, which he called “horrendous” in a 2012 post on X, adding that the awards were “all politics” and that The Apprentice—which he hosted from 2004 to 2015—should have won “many times over.” The show never received an Emmy, a sore point for the former reality TV star.
The satirical rebranding has resonated beyond the US, particularly in Europe, where Trump's renaming spree has been met with bemusement and criticism. Iceland recently protested a Trump map that placed it inside US borders, and Trump's proposal to rename New Mexico has been widely mocked. The move also echoes Trump's AI-generated videos, which have been criticized as out of touch.
While the name change is purely satirical, it highlights a growing trend of public figures using humor to push back against presidential overreach. Whether Trump will respond remains to be seen, but Parker and Stone have made it clear they are not backing down.
