Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has fired back at South Park after the Comedy Central series rather brutally mocked her looks during its most recent episode.
The second episode of the animated series’ 27th season portrayed Noem — who has been dubbed “ICE Barbie” by detractors — as a puppy-shooting villain hellbent on rounding up Hispanics along with a team of beauticians who are constantly having to re-attach her melting face.
Noem went on Glenn Beck’s podcast and was asked about the show. “It’s so lazy to make fun of women for how they look,” she said. “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.” Noem added that she didn’t watch the episode personally.
South Park, it should be noted, perhaps even more savagely mocked President Donald Trump‘s looks in the season premiere, using AI to show him obese and fully nude.
During the interview, Noem also took issue with media criticisms of ICE raids, saying they’ve been inaccurately portrayed. “I’m shocked every day by the amount of stories that we have to refute that just are completely false,” Noem says. “There are so many stories shared, so many things said, so many narratives, that we spend half of our time over here at the Department of Homeland Security saying, ‘That’s not true.’ Even making up anecdotal stories about families that just never even happened. Somebody like [New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani] accusing ICE of kidnapping people, pulling up in unmarked trucks and [saying] they’re wearing masks because they’re Nazis … it’s so dangerous.”
In the episode, titled “Got a Nut,” school counselor Mr. Mackay loses his job due to President Trump cutting the Department of Education’s budget, so he decides to sign up to join ICE (“I’m proud to work for ICE,” declares one masked ICE recruiter, ironically). Mackay watches an orientation video from Noem in which she says, “A few years ago, I had to put my puppy down by shooting it in the face, because sometimes doing what’s important means doing what’s hard.” (Noem previously admitted to killing her 14-month-old dog for exhibiting aggressive behavior.)
This is followed by Noem shooting several other random puppies in the face, which becomes a running gag throughout the episode. Mackay and his ICE squad then descend on the Dora the Explorer live show to arrest people in the crowd. “Remember only detain the brown ones!” Noem shouts. “If it’s brown, it goes down!” At one point, Krypto the Superdog from Superman swoops in to seemingly save the day — only to be shot dead by Noem as well.
Earlier this week, Homeland Security posted an image on X from South Park‘s preview that depicted an ICE raid, along with a link to a recruitment site to join U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The official South Park X account shot back: “Wait, so we ARE relevant? #eatabagofdicks.”
The comment refers to the White House‘s official statement that was issued in response to the show’s scathing 27th season premiere last month, which claimed: “Just like the creators of South Park, the Left has no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows. This show hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years and is hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention.”
The show’s blockbuster 27th season return last month delivered nearly 6 million cross-platform viewers and the largest audience share for the animated comedy in 25 years. The episode also received more social media posts than any other in the show’s history.
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