Sunday’s highly anticipated “Panic on the Streets of Springfield” section of The Simpsons portrayed ‘complicated 8-year-old’ Lisa Simpson stumbling over the work of moody post-punk singer Quilloughby (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, with parody music composed by Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie) via a streaming service called ‘Slapify’.
The discovery came after she clicked on a clue: ‘If you hate everything, you might want it’ – which led her to a page for Quilloughby’s fake band The Snuffs, which ‘the indie scene out dominated the 80s with their literate brand. , sardonic music that focused on Quilloughby’s obsessions, especially his militant vegetarianism. Lisa became so fascinated by the discography of the Snuffs that she finally summoned the morose Quilloughby to become her new imaginary friend, and followed hilarious results.
Although Simpsons Screenwriter and dedicated post-punk fan Tim Long insisted before Sunday’s broadcast that Quilloughby was a fictional compilation of various British icons from the ’80s, including Robert Smith of the Cure and Ian Curtis of Joy Division. That was clear to any Gen X indie fan from the episode. Queen is dead-styled green and pink poster, or from comedy song clips like “Hamburger Homicide” (example of the lyric: “The meat you cover with cheese is proof of your moral illness”), that Quilloughby was based on the Smiths see “Meat Is Murder” frontman Morrissey.
Morrissey’s handlers themselves were apparently aware of the apparent tribute and even posted a preview of the episode on the singer’s official Facebook page. When the episode finally aired and turned out to be fairly unflattering, Moz was not satisfied, reads a new statement posted on his Facebook page, which is run by his management company, Deckstar.
“Having fun with subjects is one thing. Other programs such as SNL still does an excellent job of finding ways to inspire great satire. But when a show is so low to use harsh hateful tactics as to show the Morrissey character with his belly hanging from his shirt (when he has never looked this way at such a stage in his career), let you wonder who the real hurtful, racist group is is here. Even worse – calling out the Morrissey character because he’s a racist, without indicating any specific cases, offers nothing. It only serves to insult the artist. They need to take that mirror and keep it to themselves. Simpsons actor [and former voice of Indian character Apu] Hank Azaria’s recent apology to the whole country India for his role in perpetuating ‘structural racism’ says it all. By suggesting all of the above in this episode … the Simpsons’ hypocritical approach to their storyline says it all, ”reads the furious statement.
Sunday’s Simpsons a delivery of Lisa and the imaginary, frozen Quilloughby who attended Springfield’s Bummershoot Festival to see the reunited Snuffs perform for the first time in more than 30 years. In the most damning scene, both Lisa and the young Quilloughby were horrified when the bloated, nasty, around 2021 Quilloughby admitted on stage that the Snuffs reunion was just a ‘cash grab’ because ‘I lost my fortune and sued people because they said things I … it was absolutely true, ‘followed by his condemnation of veganism because it’ was invented by aliens, of whom there are too many on this planet! ‘
Quilloughby then yelled at the screaming crowd as he fired a meat gun: ‘That’s right, I hate the stranger! To come to this country and take our job! Sleep with our men! “Finally a riot broke out when Quilloughby released a new track from his solo album, Refugees? Again?, while the young, imaginary Quilloughby exclaims: ‘Is this of which I have changed? I’m greedy, I’m hateful, and my face looks like a syphilis moon! ‘
The above twists and turns were clear references to, among other things, Morrissey’s defamation case against British music magazine NME about a 2007 profile he described as racist, and the increasingly worrying xenophobic and immigration remarks he made in the years that followed (much to the dismay of his liberal fanbase). It remains to be seen whether Long’s freedoms with the Quilloughby character, and Long’s denial that the character was entirely inspired by Morrissey, will prevent Moz from filing another lawsuit. Representatives for Fox or The Simpsons has not yet responded to Morrissey’s comments.
The episode “Panic on the Streets of Springfield” of The Simpsons concluded with Lisa, already irritated by the scratchy Quilloughby’s constant “whining” during their sunny Bummershoot outing, calling the future Quilloughby a ‘big racist’ and severing their imaginary friendship bitterly. Quilloughby left Lisa the following farewell advice: ‘Lisa, honey, do not let this happen to you. Try not to mock everything. And at least listen to others a little, maybe one in five times – but I can not tell you what times. ‘
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