Comedy Central has postponed the premiere of a brand new “South Park” episode that was set to air on Wednesday, September 17, the primary installment to be launched for the reason that stunning assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The last-minute delay has fueled hypothesis, because the long-running animated sequence had lampooned Charlie Kirk in an earlier episode this season and sometimes makes use of present occasions as inspiration for its satire.

As an alternative of airing as deliberate, Comedy Central confirmed the episode might be pushed again by one week. “Apparently, if you do the whole lot on the final minute, generally you do not get it achieved,” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone mentioned in an announcement. “This one’s on us. We did not get it achieved in time. Because of Comedy Central and ‘South Park’ followers for being so understanding. Tune in subsequent week!”

The official cause given was manufacturing timing, although the community notably didn’t promote the episode beforehand, including to hypothesis about whether or not the plot could have touched on Kirk’s assassination.

Earlier this season, Charlie Kirk had already been portrayed by a parody model of Eric Cartman. The storyline adopted Cartman launching a podcast and debating “woke, liberal college students,” in a pointy send-up of Kirk’s combative model and frequent campus debates. The parody skewered Kirk’s mannerisms and bodily options, exhibiting Cartman arguing about abortion whereas sitting on a bathroom bowl, and later storming a campus rally, Bible in hand, as a self-declared “grasp debater.”

Following Charlie Kirk’s dying, a few of his supporters accused “South Park” of fostering hostility towards him. One person on X claimed the present had “fomented the hatred essential to get Kirk assassinated,” whereas one other went as far as to say Parker and Stone have been “accountable.”

Followers of the present, in the meantime, questioned whether or not the abrupt postponement was actually about manufacturing delays or if Comedy Central was making an attempt to keep away from reigniting controversy within the speedy aftermath of Kirk’s killing.

Earlier than his assassination, Kirk himself had embraced the parody. He reposted clips from the episode to his social media and advised “Fox Information” that he was flattered by the eye. “Actually, my first response is that I kinda laughed,” Kirk admitted. “They will clearly make enjoyable of me… however I feel it is sort of humorous, and it sort of goes to point out the cultural affect and the resonance that our motion has been capable of obtain. We as conservatives ought to have the ability to take a joke.”

The late 31-year-old added, “We should not take ourselves so critically.”

That sentiment was echoed by Andrew Kolvet, govt producer of “The Charlie Kirk Present” and a detailed good friend of the late activist. Posting on X, Kolvet mentioned Kirk would have needed the parody episode to stay accessible. “Hey @paramountplus, as somebody who can communicate with some authority on this, Charlie liked that he was featured in ‘South Park,'” Kolvet wrote. “He advised me many occasions. He would need the episode again up.”