Paramount Plus

After a lengthy wait following its controversial premiere, South Park season 27 episode 2 aired on Comedy Central on August 6, and boy did it go for the jugular. A deepfake of Donald Trump was joined by a miniature J.D. Vance, Krypto the superdog was shot out of the sky by US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk was… well, made fun of. Just a regular day in the sitcom, right? Wrong.

For starters, the Krypto reference was a parody of Noem disclosing in her 2024 memoir that she once shot and killed her dog on a family farm. She responded to the scene during an interview on the Glenn Beck Program podcast, slamming her character’s appearance: “It’s so lazy to just constantly make fun of women for how they look. If they wanted to criticize my job, go ahead and do that. But clearly they can’t – they just pick something petty like that.” Much like the official White House account, Noem also used a screenshot of her South Park character to try and recruit users to join ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

But did the South Park team stop there? Of course not! Not only did they fire back at the ICE recruitment posts on social media, but season 27 episode 2 features a scathing secret post-credits scene that can only be streamed on Paramount+.

South Park season 27 episode 2 post-credit scene on Paramount+ goes even harder on Kristi Noem

Spoilers for South Park season 27 episode 2 ahead.

In short, it’s even more bad news for Noem. In the post-credits scene, Noem essentially goes on a shooting spree in a pet store, opening fire on all of the poor puppies who are inside. One manages to escape, but Noem soon guns it down after catching up to it. Even for South Park, the scene is especially grim, and I can’t say I’m surprised it’s a well-hidden secret. What did puppies do to deserve getting caught up in Noem’s political crossfire?

While no official reason has been given for why the post-credits scene wasn’t included in the original broadcast, it’s possible that it was added last minute after the White House and Noem both began to publicly respond to season 27, meaning it would have been too late to include in the live transmission. This might not necessarily be the case, though, and if it isn’t, it’s a dang good marketing ploy.

It’s also a lot less obvious if you’re going to double-down on your governmental criticisms on a streaming service than on cable TV (South Park season 27 is airing on Comedy Central). Paramount+ isn’t likely to be repulsed by the idea either, drawing more viewers to their streaming service to see the post-credits scene in its entire episodic context. It’s a shrewd move on all counts, even if it’s making me a little nauseous and light-headed just by writing about it.

Is this going to be the last of South Park season 27 airing subtly placed clapbacks and putting their subjects of parody on blast online? I doubt it. If anything, this streaming war could be about to get very ugly, and I’m not just talking about the bloodshed onscreen.

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