'South Park' creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker announced on September 8 that they will be changing the animated series name to 'South America,' poking fun at the recent efforts of US President Donald Trump to add "America" to several geographic locations.
The announcement came after Trump shared an AI-generated video on Truth Social of himself placing the word "America" over "Mexico" on a "Welcome to New Mexico" sign. Furthermore, the recent renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America and the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America were not especially well received around the world, even though Google and Apple did change the names on their respective map apps.
"Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA," Stone and Parker wrote in a statement about the 29th season, due to premiere on September 16.
'South Park' is known for its criticism of the president. The show is fresh off an Emmy win for Outstanding Animated Program, this on September 6.
Indeed, throughout history, wars, protests, and political conflicts have prompted changes to the names of foods, territories, landmarks, and even royal families. During World War I, for example, hamburgers were dubbed “liberty sandwiches” in the US, while London’s National Portrait Gallery renamed a series of paintings in protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
These are just a couple of examples. Click through the following gallery to discover more things that were renamed because of wars and other political reasons.