10 Changes The Simpsons Hoped You Wouldn’t Notice
2. Dropping Stark Raving Dad
This episode, for better or worse, has reached infamy levels within the history of the Simpsons. It has been removed from streaming on Disney + in the walk of the 'Leaving Neverland' documentary that aired, detailing more allegations of child sexual assault against Michael Jackson. Jackson, of course, provided the voice of Homer's friend 'Leon' in this episode.
The removal from streaming services is itself no secret. This deletion of the episode is, however, a change to the production history of the show. Ignoring it or simply pretending that it didn't exist is problematic.
The removal or quiet boycott of shows due to the behaviour of some of their stars is no new act. House of Cards suffered in the wake of the allegations against star Kevin Spacey, while many other examples of television, film and music have received similar boycotts.
Boycotting a piece of work based on the alleged actions of the artist is a difficult one to truly come down on, one side or the other. Should the rest of the cast and crew of a piece have to suffer because of an individual? Does the removal of the piece speak more to the legacy of the offence, rather than the conviction of the producers?
Stark Raving Dad is included here because the choice to remove it from streaming services is, unfortunately, an example of trying to sweep an issue under the carpet. While it is fair to say that Disney played no part in the production of this episode (so why should they face any fallout?), the episode does exist, it is out there, and it now gains more notoriety for it being taken off the air than it would for staying on it.