"South Park" returned for its latest episode, "Conflict of Interest," on Sept. 24 following a week-long delay.
"Conflict of Interest," the latest episode of "South Park," aired on Comedy Central on Sept. 24

No controversy can be truly over until "South Park" has weighed in.

In its latest episode, the Comedy Central series skewered Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr, a key figure in the Jimmy Kimmel suspension saga. ABC suspended Kimmel over comments about Charlie Kirk's killing after Carr publicly pressured the network to do so, warning on a YouTube show that "we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Titled "Conflict of Interest," the episode involves Kyle objecting to an offensive bet on a prediction market app and raising concerns with the FCC. Carr takes the issue to the White House, where he is repeatedly harmed while trying to speak with President Donald Trump: He falls down the stairs and hurts his neck, has explosive diarrhea after eating soup that Trump has tampered with, and finally is crushed by a giant pile of cat litter.

Carr ends up seriously injured in a hospital bed, and a doctor somberly says that he "may lose his freedom of speech."

Carr came under fire for pressuring ABC to take action against Kimmel after the comedian said that the "MAGA gang" was "desperately trying to characterize" Tyler Robinson, who has been charged with killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, "as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it." The late-night host's temporary suspension sparked widespread outcry and accusations of government censorship.

The new "South Park" episode aired one night after Kimmel returned to the air. In his returning monologue, he said it was "never my intention to make light" of Kirk's death and slammed Carr's comments as a "direct violation of the First Amendment."

Weeks before Kirk's death, "South Park" parodied the conservative activist in an Aug. 6 episode, in which Eric Cartman served as a stand-in for Kirk. After Kirk was killed, Comedy Central pulled a scheduled rerun of the episode, but it stayed up on Paramount+. Andrew Kolvet, a producer for "The Charlie Kirk Show," later said that Kirk "loved that he was featured in 'South Park'" and would want the episode to remain available.

'South Park' continues Season 27 Trump spoof in latest episode

The new episode of "South Park" also once again skewered Trump, continuing a season-long storyline where the president is in a romantic relationship with Satan. At the end of the previous episode, Satan announced he was pregnant with Trump's child.

"Conflict of Interest" follows up on that by depicting Trump as not wanting to have a child and attempting to end Satan's pregnancy in various ways, though all of his efforts to do so wind up injuring Carr. It's later revealed that Vice President JD Vance has secretly been behind these plans to get rid of Satan's baby.

Vance visits Carr in the hospital and tells him to stop interfering, warning, "We can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way" — a reference to Carr's comments to ABC over Kimmel.

The new "South Park" episode arrived a week later than expected. On Sept. 17, hours before the fifth episode of Season 27 was scheduled to air, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone announced it would be pushed back by another week because they failed to meet their deadline. Parker and Stone are famous for working on episodes until shortly before they air, allowing for timely commentary on recent events.

"Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don't get it done," Parker and Stone said. "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!"

While some fans wondered whether the show was being censored or if the episode was delayed because it parodied Kirk again, Stone maintained this was not the case.

"No one pulled the episode, no one censored us, and you know we'd say so if true," he told The Denver Post. "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."

Contributing: Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'South Park' takes on Jimmy Kimmel suspension, skewers Trump and FCC chair Brendan Carr

Reporting by Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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