The Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman has admitted that he’s not as “brave” as South Park creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone.
Selman told Entertainment Weekly in a new interview that he is a “coward,” following his comments to the site last year that it is “not our mission statement to respond to the crisis of the moment,” with The Simpsons.
“What I should have said the first time was just ripped-from-the-headlines daily cataclysm humor is best left to shows like South Park that can do a fast turnaround, where it is up to us to address the deeper recurrent themes of the dystopia that we live in,” he clarified.
“So we’re not shying away from it, but when you’ve got South Park, who’s so brave and so funny and so topical, leading the charge, it frees us up to do more humor about how the world has gotten dumber and worse,” he continued.
South Park, renamed South America for its newest season as a dig at Donald Trump’s renaming habit, premiered its Season 29 this month, where it continued to savagely mock the president the president.
The show began centering the president in Season 27, when Parker and Stone debuted its most aggressive portrayal of Trump yet, and introduced Satan as Trump’s lover. The brutal parody of Trump and his administration intensified throughout Seasons 27 and 28, which depicted Trump having sex with Vice President JD Vance. The Season 29 premiere depicts Trump naked, complete with the “teeny-tiny” penis he’s shown with in previous episodes.
“Yeah, this country’s gone to hell. Hopefully things will be better in November,” one character declares in the episode.
Selman said The Simpsons won’t be going that far, acknowledging that he isn’t as fearless as Parker and Stone.
Addressing his comments from last September, declaring that the show won’t be wading into what he sees as South Park territory, Selman told Entertainment Weekly, “Your headline definitely made me look like a giant chickens--t, but whatever, I’ll take it. I can handle it.” He added, “I can handle being labeled a coward. I am a coward.”
The Simpsons is currently airing its 37th season.
