The Simpsons boss reveals show was forced to AXE naughty joke – despite rival series being allowed to do it
THE Simpsons has always been known for its funny jokes and wild predictions but recently found itself the “butt of the joke”.
The show follows Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson and is beloved by children and adults alike.
But its creator Matt Groening recently let slip that he was forced to remove a gag, yet Family Guy was allowed to get away with the same joke.
At New York Comic Con, Matt told journalists that The Simpsons airs on Sunday nights at 8pm so they can no longer show Homer’s butt.
However, Family Guy, which airs at 8:30 PM, is allowed to show its main character’s bottom.
He said: “‘For a while, we’d show Homer’s butt and then they said we could no longer do it, but Family Guy could, because they were on at 8:30.”
Over its 35-year tenure, The Simpsons foresaw Donald Trump’s presidency, Richard Branson going into Outer Space and Disney buying 20th Century Fox.
The show also chillingly predicted a pandemic taking over the world, in season four, episode 21.
Over the years the show has seen many celebrity appearances too.
Glenn Close provided the voice for Homer’s mother and astronaut Buzz Aldrin made an appearance as a character in season five’s Deep Space Homer.
Another memorable moment was when Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart’s voice appeared in the episode called Homer the Great.
In one memorable episode The Yellow Lotus brought back Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob.
After bumping into the Simpsons, he reveals he is now worth a fortune after inventing a rake with a collapsible handle to “avoid head bonks” – a callback to the series 5 episode Cape Feare where this happens.
Family Guy by contrast began in 1999 and has run for 22 seasons so far.
It features Peter Griffin who tries to do the right thing for his family but keeps making disastrous mistakes.
The comedy show was created by Seth MacFarlane and features Stewie the psychotic kid who makes his father’s life hell.
The Simpsons Most Memorable Episodes
- Season 1, Episode 1 (December 1989) – Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire – the programme kicked off with its very own Christmas special and has gone down in The Simspson history books. In the episode, fans met the clan and sees Bart decide to get a tattoo underage without his parents permission. Marge is then forced to use all the family’s Xmas money on having it removed. Meanwhile, as Homes learns he won’t get a Xmas bonus, he is forced to take a job as a shopping mall Santa.
- Season 4, Episode 12 (January 1993) – Marge vx The Monorail – In this episode, the residents of Springfield are scammed into believing they will be getting an epic monorail built to take them across the town. It is only Marge and Lisa that are able to not get swept up in the Monorail Mania. The episode is also loved for introducing fans to the Monorail song.
- Season 6, Episode 25 (May 1995) – Who Shot Mr. Burns Part One – Fans of the show were left surprised when it aired a rare cliffhanger at the end of its sixth season as fans were left wondering who shot the Power Plant owner. Fans were truly left wondering whodunnit.
- Season 12, Episode 4 (February 2001) – New Kids on the Bleech – This New Kids on the Block based episode had fans singing along all night long. Bart and his pals were recruited to make a boyband supergroup but Lisa quickly realised their hit song was packed with subliminal messeges. Titled Party Posse, their breakout hit was Drop Da Bomb but the chorus’ lyrics Yvan Eht Nioj was quickly uncovered as reading Join The Navy backwards.
The Simpsons is available to watch on Disney+ in the UK and on FOX in the US.