South Park is now South America, and the statement thanks Apple and Google for their "bravery"
Ten days ago Google Maps started calling Lake Ontario "Lake America." Apple fell in line on September 1. On Tuesday the show that has spent 29 years refusing to shut up decided both companies deserved a thank-you note — and renamed itself to match.
The announcement went out Tuesday morning, eight days before season 29 premieres, and it runs two sentences. In those two sentences Trey Parker and Matt Stone thank two trillion-dollar companies for their courage and rewrite the legal name of the corporation that signs their checks.
The statement in full, via Variety:
"Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA. We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount — a Skydance Capitulation."
The two companies they thanked, and the one that said no
The "bravery" line has a specific target, and the receipts are ten days old. Trump signed the order in the middle of a trade fight with Canada, and the mapping companies did not answer it as a bloc:
- August 27 — Trump signs the executive order making Lake Ontario into Lake America.
- August 29–30 — Google updates its maps, citing "official government sources." US users get Lake America, Canadian users keep Lake Ontario.
- September 1 — Apple follows, after two days of still showing Lake Ontario.
- MapQuest — refused. "We're not changing the name of Lake Ontario. Name it whatever you want at your leisure," the company posted, per Axios, and went viral doing it.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford went on ABC's This Week and compared the order to a sketch: "No one's going to call it Lake of America. It's been Lake Ontario for hundreds of years." Nine days later the sketch got made anyway, by professionals, on Comedy Central's dime.
Parker and Stone praised the courage of the two companies that folded. The one that actually held the line was a mapping service most people last opened in 2004.
"A Skydance Capitulation" is the part that costs them money
Since the merger closed, the company's actual corporate name is Paramount Skydance Corporation. Parker and Stone changed exactly one word of it, and the word they chose points at a documented sequence rather than a vibe.
On July 2, 2025, Paramount paid $16 million to settle Trump's lawsuit over a 60 Minutes edit. On July 17, CBS cancelled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, calling it "purely a financial decision." On July 23, Paramount announced a 50-episode, five-year deal with Parker and Stone reportedly worth $1.5 billion — and roughly ten hours later, as NBC News documented, the season 27 premiere aired with Jesus telling the town to settle with Trump: "Do you really want to end up like Colbert?"
That season just won the Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program — the show's first win in the category since 2013 and "Raising the Bar." The White House had reviewed it differently, calling it "uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention" from a show that "hasn't been relevant for over 20 years."
Season 29 premieres September 16 at 10 p.m. ET on Comedy Central and lands on Paramount+ the next day in the US, Canada and Australia. The X account is already posting as South America, but the handle is still @SouthPark — the new name is official everywhere except the address bar.
Previously we wrote: House of the Dragon season 3 ratings: how far the streaming numbers dropped, and what that means for season 4
