South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have given an update on Whitney Springs, the musical comedy they’re making with Kendrick Lamar, apologizing to the rapper for the scheduling delay and pleading for patience.
“We take full responsibility for the schedule delay of this movie,” Stone and Parker said in a statement to The Ankler about the project, which the outlet framed as a “$100 million reparations musical.” “We apologize to our partners at pgLang and Paramount and we appreciate their patience. South Park and life’s circumstances have gotten in the way but we still believe in the project.”
Paramount Pictures picked up Whitney Springs in 2022 after executives were wowed by the script (penned by South Park veteran Vernon Chatman) during a visit to Stone and Parker’s production company, Park County. The film was originally set to be directed by Parker and produced by Stone alongside pgLang, Lamar and Dave Free’s media company.
According to The Ankler, the movie centers on a Black reenactor at a historical slave plantation museum who quarrels with the Midwest town’s racist mayor, played by Parker. For his part, Lamar will reportedly contribute brand-new, original songs.
“This script is one of the funniest and most original scripts we’ve ever read, and it’s certain to create some fireworks,” Paramount film chief Brian Robbins said of the film at CinemaCon 2024.
Originally scheduled for release on July 4th, 2025, it was pushed back to March 20th, 2026, before being yanked from Paramount’s calendar entirely, The Hollywood Reporter reported in November.
