"The Simpsons" Pulls Episode featuring Michael Jackson's Voice, Cites Leaving Neverland Doc
by Bruce Haring
March 7, 2019


An episode of "The Simpsons" featuring the voice of pop singer Michael Jackson is being pulled from circulation in the fallout from HBO’s shocking Finding Neverland documentary.

“I’m against book burning of any kind,” producer Jim Brooks said to the The Wall Street Journal. “But this is our book, and we’re allowed to take out a chapter.”




The 1991 episode, 'Stark Raving Dad', has Homer sent to a mental institution after being mistaken for an anarchist. While confined, he befriends a man who believes he’s Michael Jackson, before the fellow inmate finally admits he’s Leon Kompowsky, a bricklayer from Paterson, N.J.

After years of fan speculation, series creator Matt Groenig revealed that Jackson actually voiced Kompowsky. The voice credits went to a pseudonym, John Jay Smith. Even though Kompowsky sang a few Jackson numbers in the episode, Jackson was contractually bound not to sing, so a soundalike, Kipp Lennon, was used.

Jackson did write the song 'Happy Birthday Lisa' for the episode.

https://deadline.com/2019/03/the-simpsons-pulls-episode-featuring-michael-jackson-voice-cites-leaving-neverland-doc-1202571886/

The reason why The Simpsons is actually pulling the episode Stark Raving Dad is because since Michael Jackson died in 2009 the media is actually trying to remove all traces of Michael Jackson from everywhere in the world and the media thinks that Michael Jackson's stuff takes up space when there are celebrities that are still alive and successful and making money. I like the song Happy Birthday Lisa because it was one beautiful song and didn't realize that Michael Jackson wrote that song for The Simpsons and I bet people will grab the DVD sets of the 1991 season just for the episode Stark Raving Dad alone because it will be a collector's episode of The Simpsons. But I can guarantee that just like The Cosby Show reruns were pulled from TV due to Bill Cosby's troubles TV shows that feature Michael Jackson will be banned and removed from TV and starting with this The Simpsons episode it has already begun
Bestie

Hi, Bestie! That episode will come back after all the ftuff about MJ dies down. What do you think?
DTK

Everyone knew when MJ was alive, he was a pervert!

Maybe Dave Chappelle should defend MJ by saying..."He Made Thriller"!

I heard Macaulay Culkin has defended MJ at this time....

It's a shame that a great episode of The Simpsons was pulled because it features Michael Jackson's voice (https://www.vulture.com/2019/03/the-simpsons-michael-jackson-episode.html)

The 1991 season premiere episode that producers pulled from circulation in response to Leaving Neverland is still worth watching, says Jen Chaney. "I understand the impulse, especially given the tenor of the episode and the Jackson-focused nature of it," says Chaney. "But the loss of 'Stark Raving Dad' makes me sad, not just because it’s a great episode of The Simpsons, one that’s funny and genuinely touching, but also because it’s especially interesting to watch in light of Leaving Neverland." Chaney adds: "What’s most fascinating about the episode is that Michael Jackson isn’t really playing Michael Jackson. At the end of the episode, the 'big, fat, white mental patient,' as Bart calls him, admits that he’s actually a bricklayer named Leon Kompowsky and reverts to his gravelly, vaguely New York–ishly accented voice provided by Simpsons regular Hank Azaria...In other words, this imposing, unhappy man seemed kind of scary until he started convincing himself and others that he was Michael Jackson. Because who could be afraid of Michael Jackson? And wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone could be like him? The way that 'Stark Raving Dad' so casually accepts that as truth is a reflection of how Jackson was regarded at that point. He was considered a gentle man and an odd one, for sure, but still a hero and an icon."

Why pulling The Simpsons' Michael Jackson episode was a mistake (https://slate.com/culture/2019/03/simpsons-michael-jackson-stark-raving-dad-pulled.html)

"Consigning 'Stark Raving Dad' to the dustbin of history is a mistake, an offense against art and the medium of television, and part of a growing trend of corporations using their consolidated power and the death of physical media to do damage control by destroying works by troublesome artists," says Isaac Butler of The Simpsons' producers' decision last week to pull Jackson's episode (https://www.wsj.com/articles/simpsons-episode-featuring-michael-jacksons-voice-to-be-pulled-11552007802) in wake of the sexual abuse documentary HBO's Leaving Neverland. As Butler points out, Jackson didn't write the episode, he's not physically represented in it, and doesn't have his name on it. "It’s an odd situation: Jackson’s involvement in the episode is minimal, but he’s also essential to it working," says Butler. He adds: "Removing the episode from syndication, where viewers could accidentally stumble onto it, would be an understandable decision, but actively preventing people who want to see the episode from doing so is a different story. The paternalism here—the belief that viewers can’t, or shouldn’t be able to, navigate these waters on their own—is striking. Thinking about the episode’s complicity in manufacturing Jackson’s family-friendly image might make James L. Brooks, Al Jean, and Matt Groening uncomfortable, but they have created something of enduring importance, and, like all great cultural works, it no longer completely belongs to its creators. It belongs, on some level, to all of us."