The latest South Park special took plenty of jabs at Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, and, more specifically, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.
The popular animated comedy has long been known to mock major celebrities, franchises, and brands, with Kennedy only being the latest of the bunch.
The special's release comes amidst controversy surrounding Kennedy as many fans revolt against her handling of the Star Wars universe, the direction of the sequel trilogy, and her difficulty in getting any subsequent movies off the ground.
South Park Mocks Disney & Star Wars
South Park's new "Joining the Panderverse" special poked plenty of fun at modern Hollywood blockbusters, with most of the mockery directed at Disney, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, and Multiverse storytelling.
The special opened with Eric Cartman having nightmares of being "replaced by a diverse woman" along with the rest of his friendships, all of which were substituted with women of various ethnic backgrounds and "complaining about the patriarchy."
Cartman then pushed for his mom to check under his bed and "make sure there are no Disney executives under there" and drew specific reference to Kennedy.
From this point on, Cartman speculated these dreams were actually a peak across the Multiverses, just as the MCU explained in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. But in further criticism of Disney and modern blockbusters, Kyle dismissed the theory as "an excuse for lazy writing."
South Park threw a dig at multiple major franchises with this line, drawing attention to how the storytelling device has made its way into many worlds recently including the DCEU, MCU, Sony-Marvel, and even the new season of Invincible.
A Disney board meeting only further highlighted the criticism, as an executive told Iger after expressing concerns over recent Disney failures that they "keep making the same movie over and over again and pandering to everyone," at which point even the board began to blame the problems on Kennedy.
Accusations of Disney producing repetitive Star Wars movies date as far back as The Force Awakens, when Kennedy and director J.J. Abrams were slammed for its clear similarities to A New Hope, albeit with a more diverse cast this time around.
The episode also introduced a MacGuffin called the Pander Stone, which Kennedy and Disney had been using to "make the same movies over and over again while appealing to absolutely everyone."
Through its mockery, South Park implied how Disney and Kennedy's creations have become repetitive and formulaic with an excessive focus on diversity. It even states the fictional Kennedy was "trying to fight racism with the Pander Stone" in reaction to hateful letters from fans (mainly Cartman).
But the pair do eventually come to a comprise as Kennedy admitted to being "so reckless with the things [he loves]," highlighting the show's criticism of how the Lucasfilm boss has handled beloved franchises.
Although, on a less critical note toward Disney, the episode did criticize those repeatedly referring to recent releases as "woke," with even Cartman admitting how "just wailing on woke stuff all the time is pretty lazy" and how he was "so wrong about Kathleen Kennedy."
South Park: Joining the Panderverse is streaming now on Paramount+.
