The Simpsons recently struck a chord with former Smiths frontman Morrissey, whose manager Peter Katsis chewed on Fox’s long animated series as he “tries to capitalize on cheap controversy and lay out cruel rumors.”
Late Sunday night, Katsis shared a lengthy post on the singer’s official Facebook page in response to the episode of the program “Panic on the Streets of Springfield” which aired on Sunday. Lisa Simpson creates an imaginary friend named Quilloughby, who leads the band The Snuffs. Expressed by Benedict Cumberbatch, Quilloughby is a “depressed British singer of the 1980s” who looks like the former frontman of The Smiths. While The Simpsons character may even look like the British rocker, the episode even features Morrissey-like songs written by Flight of the Conchords‘Bret McKenzie and Tim Long.
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‘Panic on the Streets of Springfield’ begins with Lisa going out of town with her new imaginary girlfriend and ends with Lisa to see the real Quilloughby on stage. Quilloughby, far from what she intended, gained weight, became greedy and developed a penchant for racist and problematic comments.
Dissatisfied with the episode, Katsis exploded in portraying Morrissey.
“Having fun with subjects is one thing. Other programs such as SNL is still doing an excellent job of finding ways to inspire great satire, ”reads the report. ‘But if a show is so low as to use harsh hateful tactics, such as showing the Morrissey character with his belly hanging from his shirt (if he has never looked like this at such a stage in his career) , makes you wonder who the real hurtful, racist are. group 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. ”
Katsis expressed even more dismay at the final depictions of the Morrissey-inspired character and defended the real singer of the cartoon.
“Morrissey has never done a cash grab and has not sued anyone for their attacks, has never stopped giving great shows and is still a serious vegan and supporter of animal rights,” Katsis wrote. ‘By suggesting all of the above in this episode … the Simpson’s [sic] hypocritical approach to their storyline says it all. ”
See the full Facebook post below.