The Simpsons boss responds to viral theory of Homer's appearance in 'Who Shot Mr Burns'
The Simpsons fans were knocked for six over the weekend when a viewer shared a screenshot from the infamous 'Who Shot Mr Burns' two-parter showing Krusty the Clown in the crowd that gathered after the villain was shot.
Except it isn't exactly Krusty.
As pointed out by Twitter user @BrianKiddsMate2, the character model of Krusty looks closer to Homer when he dressed up as Krusty in the episode 'Homie the Clown'.
Here's what he looks like in the episode:
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And below we see what Krusty looks like normally, standing next to Homer dressed up as Krusty in the 'Homie the Clown' episode, for the best comparison.
Krusty has bags under his eyes and the shape of his 'mouth' is a different shape to Homer's circular design. The 'Krusty' in the crowd scene match with Homer's design, and it's even noted that he gives Ned Flanders the side-eye in the way Homer does.
So, does that mean that Homer disguised himself as Krusty to hide what he had done, therefore adding a whole new layer to this iconic pair of episodes?
No – as the show's boss has now categorically stated.
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TV writer, Portlandia creator and former The Simpsons executive producer Bill Oakley caught wind of the discovery, and shared some insight into what was actually going on.
"Let me clarify and say that if that *is* the "Homer dressed as Krusty" model (and the hair would seem to indicate it is not), we had no idea until today that it was," he tweeted.
"I can certainly imagine a scenario where Homer was mistakenly drawn in the background by one of the overseas studios and we called a re-take to have it fixed and they just kind of re-jiggered the existing art to make Homer into Krusty."
He later found and shared a file from over 25 years ago (we feel old) that contained notes to the animators, and it specifically mentions that Homer should NOT be in the scene. So it seems like the accidental Homer that was attempted to be turned into Krusty theory holds water.
OK I found this on my computer. Haven't looked at this file in 25 years. (Please note I do NOT think all these appeared in the final show.) But you will see that we specifically ask that Homer should NOT appear in the Final Scene, and we do not ask that he be disguised as Krusty. pic.twitter.com/aJkPMvzykK
— BILL OAKLEY (@thatbilloakley) April 26, 2020
Disney have announced they are working on releasing remastered versions of The Simpsons in the original and correct 4:3 aspect ratio, after their streaming service launched with widescreen versions that cropped out a lot of the visual jokes. Maybe they'll fix the error in the episode while they are at it.
We doubt it, but we can dream, eh?
The Simpsons is now available to watch on Disney+ in the US and the UK.
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