South Park Tackles AI Deepfakes with Controversial Episode Featuring Explicit Content

Horrifying New 'South Park' Has Some Visuals You May Never, Ever Forget

"South Park" on Wednesday delivered a warning about generative AI with an episode that featured beloved figures ranging from Santa Claus to Totoro engaging in some extremely NSFW behavior. And the show escalated its feud with the White House by depicting President Donald Trump having sex with Vice President JD Vance. In one storyline, the kids at South Park Elementary School use the Sora AI app to generate extremely explicit deepfake videos of each other and various characters. Meanwhile, tech billionaire Peter Thiel -- who has kidnapped Eric Cartman -- uses that same app to create fake videos from Eric to his mom insisting that everything is OK. But the most devious use of the tech comes from the one character on the show who isn't using it: Trump. Thiel has installed secret cameras around the White House. When footage of Trump having sex with Vance leaks, Trump claims it's just an AI-generated deepfake. Naturally, Fox News is only too happy to believe him. Satan, on the other hand -- who is pregnant with Trump's "butt baby" -- is not as easily fooled. The episode comes as Sora and other generative AI tools are increasingly used to create convincing deepfake videos that go viral online and, in some cases, even dupe news agencies. Here's some help on how to spot fakes. "South Park" has two more episodes left this season: Nov. 26 and Dec. 10. The show airs on Comedy Central, and streams the following day on Paramount+.

'South Park' Goes Deep on Deepfakes With Explicit Trump-Vance Video

'South Park' Sucks Now: Halloween Episode Sees Town Go Meme Coin as Trump Faces an Apparition South Park went deep on deepfakes this week, with dual plotlines in Colorado and Washington centered around the concerning use of false video and implications of its widespread use -- be it for revenge porn or to excuse real footage. Wednesday night's "Sora Not Sorry" episode began with the beloved Butters, feeling like he was used, hell-bent on revenge against ex-girlfriend Red over the whole Labubu Satanic ritual incident at her birthday party last season. So the sweet boy decided to create an AI deepfake video of her being urinated upon by Santa Claus. That was bad -- but not as bad as the video Red then makes of Butters having sex with Totoro, the lovable creature from the 1988 Hayao Miyazaki animated fantasy film My Neighbor Totoro. (Butters defiling Totoro is something we can't unsee.) The plot then thickens surrounding Eric Cartman and Peter Thiel's trip to Washington to battle The Antichrist -- a kidnapping that is being covered up with deepfake AI videos of the young resident obnoxious antihero -- as the boys' mother starts asking questions of the local police. But Detective Harris is more concerned with the apparent series of rapes at South Park Elementary, and soon questions Butters about his relationship with Totoro (referred to here as "hat forest dwelling piece of shit"). That's when goons from Studio Ghibli in Japan arrive, calling B.S. on the hard-earned work of animators being easily copied by AI deepfakes. They are soon thrown into South Park's jail. In Washington, Vice President JD Vance is getting a tongue-lashing from President Trump over his meddling in his personal life, namely the baby he is expecting with Satan, a.k.a. the Antichrist. Trump fesses up that he doesn't want the baby, as the little bundle of hellfire will cramp his social life. So Vance suggests a gunman he knows in Colorado who can take care of things. Satan then walks in on the Veep and president in the White House hot tub hatching the plan, but yells at Trump and runs off. At that point, Trump and Vance seem to have a moment in the hot tub -- and end up making love in the Lincoln Bedroom in a scene that goes on and on and never gets comfortable to watch. After the act break, the AI video revenge situation at South Park Elementary is on trial -- with animated favorite Bluey on stand to testify about the bad things Kyle, Stan and Kenny made her do in a deepfake that she wasn't even paid for. By the episode's end, it's discovered that the videos of Cartman were fake and he's recused and, as always, ungrateful of his mother's love ("When's the last time you saw me eat a pot pie?" he asks his relieved mom.) All's well that ends well for Detective Harris, who believes he busted a huge community of online rapists named after a popular AI tool. However, Trump is in hot water when Lincoln Bedroom surveillance footage of him getting freaky with Vance leaks to Fox News; the network issues a despondent, defeated report on the tryst that is so sad, you can almost feel bad for the network and its Trump-loving staff. That is, until Trump clears the air by telling the Fox anchor that of course that lengthy -- too lengthy -- sex scene with his Veep was fake as hell. Satan seems skeptical, but remains in Trump's bed as the arrival of The Antichrist gets closer. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone recently explained why the current 28th season is leaning so hard into Trump, telling the New York Times it's because politics have become pop culture. "We're just very down-the-middle guys," Parker said. "Any extremists of any kind, we make fun of. We did it for years with the woke thing. That was hilarious to us. And this is hilarious to us."