Cliff Notes – South Park takes aim at Elon Musk’s ketamine use in new trailer
- The new trailer for South Park’s 27th season features a satirical take on Elon Musk’s admission of using ketamine for mental health, with characters referencing the drug in a comedic context.
- The season promises to maintain its signature dark humour, showcasing chaotic scenarios including plane crashes and a war in Canada, alongside the main storyline involving Musk.
- Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have indicated a shift away from mocking Donald Trump, citing the challenges of addressing political themes in the current climate.
South Park takes aim at Elon Musk’s ketamine use in new trailer
South Park has taken aim at Elon Musk in a new trailer for its 27th season.
The long-running animated dark comedy is returning to screens and has promised to be just as savage as always.
‘Times have changed,’ a voice calls out in the sinister opening of the teaser, before a montage of clips showing the upcoming antics of Stan Marsh, Kyle Roflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick.
At one point, the gang evacuate an entire city on fire before another clip shows the French seizing The Statue of Liberty and two planes crashing into each other.
It then cuts to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs travelling through space, a few more plane crashes, and Canada at war.
Season 27 features plenty of plane crashes (Picture: YouTube/South Park Studios)
It also features Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs floating through space (Picture: YouTube/South Park Studios)
However, the main dig throughout the clip appears to be at Musk’s ketamine admission last year.
In the trailer, Randy Marsh asks his daughter: ‘Shelly, have you been taking ketamine?’
‘Because I think it could really help you,’ he adds.
Randy Marsh advocates for ketamine use (Picture: YouTube/South Park Studios)
He later informs his wife, walking out of their home: ‘I’m just going to do some ketamine and f**k around with the government a little.’
The comments appear to be taking a savage swipe at Musk’s admission about ketamine, during an interview with journalist Don Lemon last year, and the backlash he has gained for involvement in Trump’s government.
He said: ‘There are times when I have sort of a… negative chemical state in my brain, like depression I guess, or depression that’s not linked to any negative news, and ketamine is helpful for getting one out of the negative frame of mind.’
Elon Musk spoke about taking ketamine last year (Picture: AP)
According to CNN, he added that he has a prescription for the drug from ‘an actual, real doctor’ and uses ‘a small amount once every other week or something like that’.
The regulated use of ketamine is legal in the US, and has been approved by the FDA for medical use to treat depression, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The SpaceX CEO has yet to comment on the trailer, though this isn’t the first time he’s been included in South Park.
In 2016, he voiced himself in three episodes of the show’s 20th season, Members Only, Not Funny and The End of Serialization as We Know It.
Season 27 hits screens later this year (Picture: YouTube/South Park Studios)
Musk has reportedly previously admitted being a fan of South Park, referencing it in a 2023 CNBC interview where he addressed X subscriptions.
‘Free speech isn’t free it costs a little bit, it’s like in South Park where they say, freedom isn’t free, it costs a buck or whatever but it’s pretty cheap,’ he said.
This comes after creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone revealed they wouldn’t be mocking Donald Trump anymore.
Ahead of the 2024 US presidential election, Matt admitted to Vanity Fair: ‘We’ve tried to do South Park through four or five presidential elections, and it is such a hard thing to— it’s such a mind scramble, and it seems like it takes outsized importance.
‘Obviously, it’s f***ing important, but it kind of takes over everything and we just have less fun.’
Trey added: ‘I don’t know what more we could possibly say about Trump.’