South Park creators threaten legal action against incoming Paramount leadership over deal interference

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are threatening legal action against incoming Paramount president Jeff Shell, accusing him of meddling in streaming rights negotiations to benefit Paramount at their expense, as first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The move injects a new level of chaos into the already messy merger between Paramount and Skydance.

Depressing the value: Lawyers for the creators’ company, Park County, allege Shell directed Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery to alter their bids for the show’s streaming rights. The legal filing claims Shell pushed WBD to grant Paramount+ an exclusive 12-month window for new episodes and to slash a 10-year offer to just five, moves designed to “depress the value” of the deal for Park County, which shares a 50% stake in the show’s digital future through its joint venture with Paramount.

Jumping the gun: Skydance responded with a terse statement, noting that “Under the terms of the transaction agreement, Skydance has the right to approve material contracts.” But Park County’s lawyers counter that since the merger isn’t final, Shell and Skydance are jumping the gun. The legal threat accuses them of using “confidential information… to purport to make demands on behalf of SPDS that even Paramount has no right to make,” calling the alleged self-dealing “simply outrageous.”

Also on our radar: The conflict with the creators is just one front in Paramount’s corporate drama, which also includes an ongoing lawsuit from Warner Bros. Discovery over South Park specials. The turmoil extends to company operations, with the pending Skydance merger leading to the shutdown of Paramount Television Studios. The internal strife has even spilled into public view, with its own flagship news program, 60 Minutes, admonishing the company on-air.