The Simpsons has been making fun of everything and everyone since 1989. Of course, there were also various disputes with other parties. In 2003, a controversial joke was made about a broadcaster who would have shot themselves in the foot by suing.
The Simpsons have been on television for over 30 years and right from the start, the television family made fun of everything: pop culture, celebrities, politicians and sometimes even its own “controversial” channel Fox.
In 2003, one joke was probably a bit too much for Fox. This allegedly caused a dispute between the station and the show. The big problem is: Fox owned The Simpsons back then.
The Simpsons – The trailer for the TV premiere of the 35th season
More videos
Autoplay
Fox vs. Fox?
What kind of gag is it? In season 14, episode 14 (Krusty in Congress), the Simpsons have a big problem: Due to changed flight routes, they can no longer enjoy a moment of peace in their house. To solve the problem, Krusty the Clown should enter Congress as a Republican. To do this, he has to adapt to political games.
This results in a gag at the expense of the conservative broadcaster Fox News. As a result, there is a news ticker in a waistband that incites against Democrats with exaggerated slogans: Do Democrats cause cancer? In the interview, the democrat is also shown with a Soviet flag and referred to as a comrade.
That was apparently too much for Fox News, as Matt Groening told a radio station in 2003. Legal action was allegedly threatened (via independent.co.uk):
We made the abdominal tie at the bottom of the screen. Fox said they would sue the show. And we took a chance because we didn’t think Rupert Murdoch would pay for Fox to sue itself. We got away with it.
Since then, Fox is said to have had a rule that they no longer do fake news stories because that could confuse viewers. Fox himself also commented on the accusation at the time. According to the Guardian, Fox denied the allegations and said: We’re scratching our heads here. We liked the cartoon. We thought he was great.
Fox News is considered a very conservative news channel that often expresses one-sided political views. The station was considered very manipulative, especially under Rupert Murdoch. Of course, such orientations don’t fit with comparatively open and critical shows like The Simpsons, where the comments are much more cosmopolitan and liberal. Mr. Burns is a similarly critical figure in The Simpsons, but he would never fire Homer: Homer causes many accidents in the nuclear power plant in the TV series The Simpsons and is not fired because there is a deal with Mr. Burns