South Park co-creator Trey Parker has made a short, joke apology to President Donald Trump for ridiculing him in the opening show of their 27th season.

The episode, broadcast on Wednesday, made several jokes at the US president’s expense, including depicting him naked in bed with recurring character Satan.

After it aired, the White House described South Park as a “fourth-rate” show which was “hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention”.

Asked about the reaction during a panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego, Parker said, with a mock-serious face: “We’re terribly sorry.”

Parker was taking part in a panel alongside co-creator Matt Stone, Beavis and Butt-Head creator Mike Judge, and actor Andy Samberg, who co-created animated show Digman!

In its statement on Thursday, the day after the episode aired, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said: “This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention.

“President Trump has delivered on more promises in just six months than any other president in our country’s history – and no fourth-rate show can derail President Trump’s hot streak.”

The long-running satirical animated show is often topical, taking aim at figures in authority.

The Guardian’s Stuart Heritage called it “South Park’s most furious episode ever”, and noted the voiceover at the end of the show which said of the president: “His penis is teeny tiny, but his love for us is large.”

Parker told the panel discussion they had received a note from the show’s producers about the episode prior to broadcast.

“They said, ‘OK, but we’re gonna blur the penis,’ and I said, ‘No you’re not gonna blur the penis,'” he explained.

The episode, shown on Paramount+, follows a merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media being recently approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The merger between the independent film studio and one of Hollywood’s oldest and most storied companies was first announced in 2024.

The approval came just weeks after Paramount Global agreed to pay $16m (£13.5m) to settle a legal dispute with Mr Trump over an interview it broadcast on subsidiary CBS with former Vice-President Kamala Harris.

It also follows this week’s announcement by Paramount-owned CBS that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026 after 33 years on air. Colbert is known for being one of Mr Trump’s staunchest critics on late-night TV.

South Park tackled the legal dispute between Paramount and the president in its latest episode – just hours after its creators had signed a five-year deal with Paramount+ for 50 new episodes and streaming rights to previous seasons.

The move comes after a months-long bidding war a between major streaming platforms, and new episodes will first be shown on Paramount’s cable channel Comedy Central, before streaming on Paramount+.

The Los Angeles Times and other outlets reported the deal was worth $1.5bn (£1.1bn).

In the new episode, Mr Trump sues the town of South Park and then Jesus – another recurring character – appears, telling them to settle.

“You guys saw what happened to CBS?… Do you really want to end up like Colbert?”

Rolling Stone’s Alan Sepinwall was a fan of the episode, writing: “Yes – South Park went there – and it’s glorious.”

He added: “The episode – titled Sermon on the ‘Mount – took a jab at Trump’s obsession with using lawsuits to silence media and political opponents, ChatGPT, the injection of religion into America’s public schools, government censorship, and corporations caving to pressure.”

Hollywood Reporter’s Kevin Dolak called the episode “shocking”, adding it was a “hilarious, and as expected, controversial premiere”.

“I don’t know what next week’s episode is going to be,” Parker said to the panel later in the discussion.

“Even just three days ago, we were like, ‘I don’t know if people are going to like this’.”

In 2017, the Parker told The Los Angeles Times, the show had fallen into the “trap” of mocking the US president in its episodes every week.

“We’re becoming: ‘Tune in to see what we’re going to say about Trump.’ Matt [Stone, co-creator] and I hated it but we got stuck in it somehow,” he said.

He said at the time that he and Stone want the show to return to its roots of “kids being kids and being ridiculous and outrageous”.