Nobody knows where they’ve gone… or why they’ve gone (Picture: Warner Bros/Paramount)
South Park fans have expressed their confusion after several recent episodes of the sitcom appeared to go ‘missing’ from Paramount Plus.
The legendary American sitcom first launched in 1997 and has shocked the world ever since with its tales from the fictional titular small town in Colorado.
Created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the series has often been known for courting controversy, tackling sensitive subjects with dark, crude comedy.
Some South Park episodes have been removed from streaming services in the past, with a handful of so-called ‘banned episodes’ still not available to watch on demand.
And on Thursday morning, fans of the series feared the worst when a handful of episodes from the show’s 23rd season, which aired in 2019, vanished from Paramount Plus.
Posting on Reddit, user Billy Lundie said: ‘I’ve noticed that quite a few more episodes have been removed from paramount. Half of season 23 is missing and a few more from various different seasons.’
South Park has never shied away from controversial topics (Picture: Paramount/Warner Bros/Comedy Central)
Billy then asked: ‘What is the point of having South Park on there if they won’t let you watch every episode?’
Season 23 of South Park has 10 episodes in total, which were broadcast between September and December five years ago but, based on comments from users, not all episodes are currently available.
In response, another user, NoChampionship 4, theorised: ‘There’s more to it than that. They’ve probably hit a snag with licensing issues and what not.’
The series has never been one to miss an opportunity to poke fun (Picture: Paramount/Warner Bros)
They continued: ‘I’m sure the goal is to have everything in one place eventually but it’s obviously not possible right now.’
In reply, Lundie argued, ‘There is quite a lot of episodes that’s have been removed recently and surely it’s not to do with licensing,’ before NoChampionship4 agreed that ‘bureaucratic garbage’ was likely to blame.
However, there is also the possibility that, due to licensing laws, some episodes of South Park season 23 may be available in some countries but not others.
This time last year, a row erupted between Paramount Plus and Warner Bros. Discovery after the former were accused of ‘illegally holding onto new episodes’.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone first unleashed South Park in 1997 (Picture: Getty)
Five years ago, HBO Max (now just called Max) and its parent company, Warner Bros., signed a licensing deal worth $500million (£418 million) for the streaming rights to the long-running animation series.
However, a lawsuit, which was filed last February, claimed that Paramount had breached the contract they signed with Warner Bros. Discovery by putting South Park specials and other related content onto its own platform.
Parts of the lawsuit were most recently dismissed by a judge in November 2023.
Some classic episodes of the series were in fact banned for being ‘too dangerous for kids’, such as Super Best Friends from season 3, which contained a depiction of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
Further episodes have also contained more depictions of Muhammad, which caused those episodes to be banned, while others, such as An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig have been censored for slightly less serious reasons.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Paramount for clarification.
Watch South Park on Paramount Plus and SkyGO.
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Nobody knows where they’ve gone.