The widely beloved and at times controversial TV show "South Park" recently featured Nashville in its latest episode, but it wasn't for country music or bachelorette parties.
The latest episode titled "Billionaire Weenietown," was the second episode of the show's 29th season and aired on Sept. 30. Covering everything from vaccines to Joe Rogan, South Park's newest episode upheld its satirical ways by poking fun at an economic class and technology boom that have recently become more prevalent in Nashville: billionaires and data centers.
Nashville's role in the show isn't major, but it's significant enough to get the point across about Music City being a landing zone for billionaires and data centers.
Here's how and why "South Park" chose Nashville
as the punchline of its most recent episode.
What is the newest episode of 'South Park' about?
In "Billionaire Weenietown," Butters Stotch becomes enraged by AI data centers because they are disrupting his ability to watch "Dr. Pimple Popper" videos. Butters' complaints lead him to discover a miniature community called "Billionaire Weenietown" in his backyard, where billionaires are depicted as tiny talking penises.
While Butters tries to rid his backyard and community of the billionaires, the episode satirizes AI data centers, tech moguls, podcast culture, anti-vaccine rhetoric and the outspoken behavior of a new generation of ultrawealthy figures, which, in the eyes of creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is incredibly annoying and needless.
Toward the end of the episode, Butters teams up with the old-school billionaire mayor of "Billionaire Weenietown" to capture and relocate the billionaires.
After capturing them, Butters flies all the way from South Park to Nashville and dumps the billionaires in a river near an animated downtown Music City, singing gleefully while he does so.
Why did 'South Park' choose Nashville as its punchline?
In recent years, Nashville has undeniably become a major hub for billionaires, their businesses, and in general, wealthy transplants. Furthermore, Nashville has been an integral part of the nationwide data center debate as well, most recently with the proposed data center next to the Nashville Zoo.
In the 2020s, the most prominent projects and billionaires who've planted a stake in Nashville include Larry Ellison's Oracle headquarters, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta data center campus in Gallatin and the Music City Loop, an underground transit tunnel being developed by Elon Musk's The Boring Company.
Additionally, Nashville has been or will soon become home to several Fortune 500 companies run by ultrawealthy individuals including Starbucks, HCA Healthcare, Nissan, Tractor Supply, Amazon and In-N-Out Burger.
How many billionaires live in Tennessee?
According to Forbes' most recent list of the country's top 400 wealthiest people, these billionaires call Tennessee home:
- Thomas Frist Jr. (HCA Healthcare, $35.6 billion)
- Jimmy Haslam (Pilot Flying J, $12.2 billion)
- Lynsi Snyder (In-N-Out Burger, $7.3 billion)
- Mike Hollingshead (Smyrna Ready Mix, $7.2 billion)
- Jon Yarbrough (Video Gaming Technologies, $6.5 billion)
- Bill Haslam (Pilot Flying J, 6.3 billion)
Where can you watch the new episode of 'South Park?'
"Billionaire Weenietown" premiered Sept. 30 on Comedy Central and is available on demand through Paramount+.
Watch South Park on Paramount+
Peter Burditt covers trending news and service journalism for The Tennessean. Contact him at PBurditt@nashvill.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville gets called out on latest 'South Park' for its billionaire boom
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