Aside from the 48-minute “Pandemic Special” episode released in September, South Park has been all but absent from our lives in 2020.
But that didn’t stop creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone from making other content with their trademark brand of chaotic, often disturbing satire. Their ongoing Sassy Justice web series, which launched back in October, shares lots of the classic South Park elements we love: An idiotic premise, shitty drawings, and mockery of current events.
In the latest episode, a deepfaked Trump (who appears frequently in the series) reads a re-imagining of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Over-identifying with a “very special” reindeer rejected by society, Trump misses the point that (unlike him) Rudolf was shunned for his physical difference rather than being the literal worst. Instead, he rails against the “sleepy-eyed” reindeer who calls for an election to democratically vote on which reindeer is the best rather than the “special” reindeer just declaring himself the best.
You already know how this story ends: The “sleepy-eyed” reindeer wins. But Trump is enraged on the special reindeer’s behalf, claiming baseless conspiracy theories about the reindeer election being rigged.
Voiced by Peter Serafinowicz, the deepfake tech superimposes Trump’s likeness onto the actor with uncannily convincing results. While the threat of deepfakes to democratic elections didn’t really materialize in 2020 like some worried it would, it’s still important to remain vigilant. This is a harmless use of deepfakes to satirize a bigger contributor to political disinformation. But deepfakes can still be used for more nefarious means.
Regardless, Sassy Justice is all we have to cling onto while awaiting Season 24 of South Park, which has no official release date yet.