The Simpsons co-creator James L. Brooks has spoken out on the recent ‘confirmation’ that the animated character Homer Simpson would no longer be strangling his son Bart in the show.
In the episode, Homer tells his wife Marge that “strangling the boy has paid off,” just after shaking someone’s hand and being complimented for having a strong grip.
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Homer jokingly revealed moments after that he was “just kidding,” and that he doesn’t “do that anymore,” telling the viewers that “times have changed.”
However, it seems that Homer’s change of ways will be short-lived as the show’s co-creator Brooks told People that fans shouldn’t expect this new change to stick around for long.
James L. Brooks Says Homer Will Still Strangle Bart
Brooks told the outlet, “Don’t think for a second we’re changing anything.”
This is exactly what everybody did think as it seemed fairly clear in the episode that Homer decided not to strangle his son anymore, something that was all just a lie according to Brooks.
The co-creator reportedly showed an illustration to People that showed Homer strangling Bart, who was holding a smartphone with a headline that read, “Simpsons: No more strangling.” Text in a word bubble showed Homer yelling at his son, “Why you little clickbaiting-!!”
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He also told the outlet that “Nothing’s getting tamed. Nothing, nothing, nothing, [Bart will] continue to be strangled – [if] you want to use that awful term for it. He’ll continue to be loved by his father [Homer] in a specific way.”
A popular fact that has been noted as of late is that Dan Castellaneta’s Homer Simpson character hasn’t actually strangled Nancy Cartwright’s Bart Simpson since the show’s 31st season, which was all the way back in 2019/2020.
So, technically, the strangling gag has already been off the air for a fair amount of time.
As to when fans of the show can expect the gag to return on the other hand remains to be seen, if the ol’ strangling bit will even be used again, that is.
Source: People
