‘South Park’ Takes on Pete Hegseth’s Department of War in New Thanksgiving-Themed Episode

Among the many members of this Trump Administration to be spoofed on the current season of South Park — easily one of the wildest yet — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has so far been spared. That is, until last night. During a Thanksgiving-themed episode titled “Turkey Trot,” Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor and military servicemember, was depicted as an Instagram Reels-obsessed content creator sent to town on Trump’s orders to free Peter Thiel, who you might recall was arrested in the previous episode. “Don’t just make a bunch of content. Like, actually go and do something,” South Park’s Trump tells Hegseth.

Elsewhere, the town is planning to host a 5k Turkey Trot that is, naturally, sponsored by Saudi Arabia. The only caveat? Contestants can’t speak ill of the Saudi Royal Family. Cartman recruits Token to his team in hopes of winning the $5,000 prize, and in a send-up of the increasingly prevalent ideas of race science permeating through conservative circles, describes himself as a “racing scientist,” noting that Token’s race always wins races.

Trending Stories

Jackson Browne's Son Ethan Dead at 52
Judge Plans to Force Sale of Nicki Minaj’s $20 Million Mansion to Pay Security Guard’s Judgment
'South Park' Takes on Pete Hegseth's Department of War in New Thanksgiving-Themed Episode
How a Mac-and-Cheese Recipe Turned Chef Tini Into TikTok’s Thanksgiving Queen

The stage is thus set for an Eddington-style standoff, as Hegseth arrives in South Park and immediately mistakes the race for an Antifa uprising. The quick-thinking Secretary of War immediately starts streaming the event before being accosted by Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who ends up shooting a dog in a scenario seemingly plucked from Noem’s memoir, which caused a stir during the 2024 election. The episode ends with Hegseth botching the Peter Thiel extraction and ending up in jail himself right alongside Thiel.

This latest season of South Park has consistently raised eyebrows as it takes on the current administration’s key figures head-on. All the while, they’ve battled their network, Paramount+, which recently completed a merger with David Ellison’s Skydance in a deal that many believe came with political assurances to the current administration. For more than twenty years, South Park has made skewering pop culture its defining ethos. Co-creator Trey Parker recently told the New York Times that “It’s not that we got all political, it’s that politics became pop culture.”