South Park and the greatest TV contract clause

64 JustExAWS 12 8/15/2025, 4:27:50 AM readtrung.com ↗

Comments (12)

dmazin · 5m ago
As much I loved this show growing up, an interesting thing about South Park is that they essentially defined the alt right (in the sense of a disenfranchised young man, often lashing out at marginalized groups and political correctness etc). Am I wrong or did there use to be an article called “South Park conservative” that basically described what eventually became “alt-right”?
not_your_vase · 58m ago
It's very long, and seems to be stuffed with a copy of wikipedia, I ain't reading all that. What's that clause? Like Lucas had with Star Wars, they kept the monetization rights for some (at the time) dumb looking stuff, and they struck gold with it?
waterhouse · 50m ago
Looks to be (1269 words into the article according to wc):

> [Parker and Stone]’s lawyer, Kevin Morris, insisted that any South Park revenue not derived specifically from broadcast on the cable channel would go into the pot for calculating the men’s share of back-end profits.

Though that might be a precursor to enabling this (400 words later):

> With negotiating leverage, Parker and Stone agreed to a 4-year $75 million deal and, separately, a 50/50 cut of advertising revenue for any digital property…in perpetuity.

JustExAWS · 53m ago
They would get profit sharing for any income that didn’t come from airing on Comedy Central. This was in 1997 before online streaming was really a thing
Imustaskforhelp · 1h ago
South park is one of my favourite shows. I think that matt and trey aren't the usual billionaires but it would still be cool if they actually donate some of that money since they feel like the guys who don't need a billion dollars and feel humble imo.
do_not_redeem · 27m ago
One of the downsides of people knowing you have money is everyone on earth will judge you for what you do with it. I say let them enjoy it. If you must pressure someone to donate, pressure one of the "usual billionaires" who's funding their torment nexus with it.
shazbotter · 20m ago
There is no human alive who can ethically enjoy a billion dollars. Give them each a hundred million and say, you've hit your cap, everything else goes towards the public good.

A hundred million dollars buys you a life of comfort and luxury. Anyone with a billion has too much influence, imo.

graeme · 14m ago
The South Park owners don't have a billion dollars in liquid wealth each. They have ownership of south park, which is worth billions.

If you make them cut their assets down to $100 million each then they don't own South Park. And someone else gets to tell them what to write. Or they retire.

k1t · 16m ago
One hundred million dollars? My yacht cost more than that...
nurumaik · 8m ago
I can live a life of comfort and luxury with $10k. Can you please donate everything above $10k of your networth right now?
more_corn · 41m ago
What the fuck kind of writing is that? Ge to the damned point.
blkhawk · 49m ago
TLDR:

“A cut of revenue not derived specifically from broadcast on the cable channel” went from “meaningless” to “huge significance” to “boner-inducing” arguably the greatest clause ever in TV contract history…at a minimum, it’s one of the most improbable all things considered.