Are Trey Parker and Matt Stone Short on Cash Following An $800 Million Loan?

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone just hired one of the most relentless litigators in Hollywood in apparent preparation for a lawsuit against Paramount and its prospective new owner Skydance Media. All that just to keep living in a hot dog house…

Yesterday evening, Hollywood insiders reported that Parker, Stone and their shared production Park County had hired high-powered entertainment lawyer Bryan Freedman as they gear up to go to war with their parent company Paramount and its soon-to-be buyers at Skydance. After negotiations over a contract extension to the South Park streaming deal with Paramount fell through, Park County began to shop the highly sought-after series to other streamers — only to discover that, allegedly, Skydance had been going around to the competition and telling everyone to dramatically reduce their offers to Park County in order to drive down the asking price while it tries to push its Paramount acquisition through President Donald Trump’s FCC.

According to The Hollywood Reporter‘s breakdown of the impending legal battle, before Skydance began the process of acquiring Paramount and all its properties, South Park and its creators were due for a 10-year, $3 billion contract extension, and after taking out a massive $800 million loan in 2023 from a private equity firm called the Carlyle Group, Park County was clearly counting on that cash to start rolling in soon.

Hopefully none of that nearly billion-dollar loan was ever handled by the South Park Bank.

According to a source who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, Park County may soon be short on funds when the Carlyle Group comes to collect, with $80 million in annual interest on the loan further compounding the liquidity issue. Critically, Parker and Stone backed their near-billion-dollar loan with their lucrative intellectual property, including South Park as well as their massively successful Broadway show The Book of Mormon. Theoretically, if Parker and Stone can’t make payments on their loan, they could lose their stake in South Park — and, presumably, Paramount and Skydance are well aware of the worst-case scenario.

It’s unclear why, exactly, Parker and Stone needed that much cash on hand back in 2023. The loan coincided with their massive investment in rehabbing their beloved childhood eatery and entertainment destination Casa Bonita, but the price tag on those renovations was reportedly “only” $40 million. But regardless of the reasoning behind the Carlyle deal, Parker and Stone could find themselves in very hot water very soon if Paramount and Skydance succeed in putting the squeeze on them.

If and when Park County files suit against its parent company/companies, it will be the most important Streaming War in South Park history.