‘South Park’ Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone Hire Litigator as Paramount Lawsuit Looms

Just two months ago, Paramount Global announced to its shareholders that Paramount+ would soon become the exclusive streaming home of the entire South Park content library. Today, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone hired a litigator as they seemingly prepare to take their “exclusive home” to court.

Late last month, lawyers representing Park County Productions, Parker and Stone’s shared entertainment enterprise, sent a strongly worded letter to Paramount Global and its possibly-soon-to-be parent company Skydance Media alleging that the planned head of Paramount post-merger, RedBird Capital executive Jeff Shell, was interfering in Park County’s negotiations with Netflix over the highly desirable domestic streaming rights to South Park. Paramount’s current contract with Parker and Stone is set to expire in 2027, and Skydance CEO and founder David Ellison was rumored to be unconvinced that Parker and Stone’s asking price of $200 million yearly was worth the hefty investment.

Parker and Stone’s lawyers alleged that Shell had been pressuring other power players in the streaming industry to dramatically scale back their own offers to Park County in an effort to drive down the asking price. While Skydance maintained that any maneuvers they may or may not have made were within their rights as they move to close a deal with South Park’s parent company, Hollywood insider and Puck founder Matthew Belloni revealed today that Parker and Stone have just hired the high-powered Hollywood litigator Bryan Freedman, presumably in preparation for a lawsuit against Paramount and Ellison.

Based on Paramount’s recent legal activity, Parker and Stone should be able to squeeze out at least $16 million without ever stepping foot in the courtroom.

Critically, Parker and Stone co-own the streaming rights to South Park with Paramount through their joint venture South Park Digital Studios. The one-of-a-kind arrangement gives both Paramount and Park County 50 percent ownership over the lucrative streaming rights, but Parker and Stone have the final say in all contract negotiations. When Park County’s lawyers first accused Skydance of going “behind Park County’s back” and “self-dealing” in the non-Paramount negotiations, Ellison’s company seemed to suggest that they were acting within their rights as the prospective partial owners of South Park Digital Studios.

“Under the terms of the transaction agreement, Skydance has the right to approve material contracts,” Skydance replied to the threat, referencing their agreement with Paramount Global that allows them to veto any major contracts that Paramount signs while the two mega-corporations wait for President Donald Trump’s FCC to approve the merger. 

The public drama continued when Paramount suddenly announced that the highly anticipated 27th season of South Park would be delayed two weeks, and, while the media giant did not divulge any details about the sudden postponement, Parker and Stone took to the official South Park Twitter account to voice their theories. “This merger is a shitshow and it’s fucking up South Park,” Parker and Stone told their fans, “We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow.”

Now, Parker and Stone have enlisted the services of a well-known Hollywood heavy-hitter in Freedman, who is the co-founder of the Los Angeles-based lawfirm Liner Freedman Taitelman + Cooley LLP and who is currently representing film star and director Justin Baldoni in his ongoing, high-profile legal battle against Blake Lively.

Three years ago yesterday, the South Park community thought it had finally brought The Streaming Wars to a close. Today, the war has just begun again.