RUSH EXCERPT:
STELTER: “Yes, that‘s absolutely right. And this. Might be a case of profits actually beating out over politics. There‘s been. So. Much attention in recent months. About what media Companies are doing. Both. On the news side and on the entertainment side. To try to appease President Trump. But in this case, south park is so darn profitable that the creators seem to have The Freedom to do and say whatever they want. At least that was my takeaway. After talking with David Ellison, who‘s the brand new CEO of Paramount. He‘s the guy that the son of oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, who was trying to get that. Paramount merger approved earlier this year. The old owners of Paramount cut that deal, with Donald Trump settling with him for $16 million. Ellison has also made other commitments about having a CBS ombudsman and getting rid of DEI in order to get the deal through. So yesterday, the Paramount deal took effect remarkably, just the night before this south park episode aired, the second episode of the new season of south park, which is now suddenly one of the most scathing, vicious critics of Trump anywhere on American television. You know, this show is going after not just Trump, but jd Vance Kristi Noem and others, and it‘s getting millions of views, millions of viewers for it. South park says excuse me, comedy central says the ratings are through the roof. Social relevance also through the roof. And so I asked Ellison. I said, do you have a south park problem? Is this going to be a problem for your new company? And his response was to praise the creators. He said, quote, Matt trey, they‘re incredibly talented. They are equal opportunity offenders and always have been. And then he went on to make the key point, Dana, he said the show is highly profitable and it‘s a huge hit on the streaming platform. Paramount plus. So that‘s an interesting contrast to the late show with Stephen Colbert, right? CBS said it was canceled for financial reasons. Lots of viewers worried it was for political reasons, but we know that show was unprofitable. South park, on the other hand, very profitable for the parent company. So even though it‘s a thorn in Trump‘s side, it‘s not going anywhere. At least that was the indication from the new CEO.”