South Park has released yet another provocative episode, and this time it took aim at Kristi Noem’s infamous story about when she shot a dog.
From the very first episode, it was clear this new season was going to take direct shots at the Trump administration. The last episode lampooned Trump’s suing spree, notably against South Park’s parent company, Paramount. The episode even went on to have a very bold ending where an AI depiction of Trump is shown running naked in the middle of the desert. It almost felt like the creators of the show were daring Trump to sue them too.
So it was assumed that the second episode would pick up right after the first episode or perhaps take things further. Well, the second episode was more interested in Kristi Noem, called “ICE Barbie” on the show. In the show, ICE Barbie is always depicted in full ICE gear, and her face keeps sliding off after every four lines before an emergency crew of plastic surgeons does an on-site facelift. The gag keeps recurring throughout the episode, and it simply never stops being funny.
ICE Barbie also keeps shooting dogs every time she sees one. To Twitter’s amusement, the Trump administration keeps claiming that they don’t actually care about South Park while releasing a weekly reaction about how the last episode made them feel. This time, The Guardian reports Kristi Noem shared on a podcast what the episode made her feel, saying, “It’s so lazy to make fun of women for how they look.” Noem added, “Only the liberals and the extremists do that. If they want to criticize my job, go ahead and do that, but clearly they can’t. They just picked something petty like that.”
X pointed out how she had no problem being depicted as a dog killer, but she was clearly offended by her depiction as someone who has had cosmetic surgery. There’s also the part where Noem claims that if they criticized her job, that would be palatable, and that the only reason they don’t do that is because they can’t — which would suggest there’s nothing worth criticizing about Noem’s tenure as the Homeland Security Secretary. And there’s more than just something; there’s a lot to criticize.
South Park’s portrayal of ICE was actually quite insightful and full of valid criticism. It’s already been noted that it’s one of the only shows able to cross through different echo chambers in this increasingly fragmented society. People on the right and left, young and older… they all love the show for different reasons. They hold a mirror to society, and if you don’t like what you see — that’s never their fault.
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) August 7, 2025
South Park didn’t just go scorched earth, they napalmed the narrative.
This week’s episode has Dora the Explorer getting ICE-raided at her own show, then trafficked straight to Mar-a-Lago to give old men massages. That’s right. A kids’ cartoon character ends up massaging a… pic.twitter.com/GJrfPvf3yv
The episode also took a swipe at Charlie Kirk and his usual rabble-rousing on university campuses. Now that he’s taken it into online forums and people interact with him and his takes more often, it was great to see the show lay bare his argument style of short bursts of controversial statements that rely on dramatic YouTube editing to feign depth. But it’s already clear that the people who were made fun of on South Park are still struggling to understand the show’s satire, viewing the episode as a compliment. And, as is usually the case, South Park remains unbothered and is doubling down by changing their profile picture to the depiction Kristi Noem said she doesn’t appreciate.
You understand they hate, and are making fun of you guys, right?
— Tim V • Knockout Hub (@knockouthubtim) August 7, 2025
South Park has updated their profile photo on Facebook in response to Kristi Noem calling them sexist for criticizing her look. pic.twitter.com/moOPo3FKXu
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) August 8, 2025
Truly, it’s hard to shame the shameless.
