Homer Simpson MP3 “banned” by Fox

Objectionable material

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 11th June 2002 04:05 GMT

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Counter culture hero Paul Krassner - co-founder of the Yippies - has made available a recording of Homer Simpson that Fox refused to sanction. It features Dan Castellaneta, who plays Homer in Fox's The Simpsons introducing a live performance by Krassner. Although the introduction was penned by Castanella, Fox owns the rights and after hearing the entire CD refused permission for Homer's voice to appear, according to Krassner.

The tale, and the 1.6MB MP3, is on Krassner's website here.

Or at least Krassner's version. We couldn't reach Fox or Artemis Records for confirmation, and the news is suspiciously timed to start with a promotional tour to plug a new Krassner anthology, Murder at the Conspiracy Convention. He is, after all, a lifelong prankster (an example from an early edition of his Realist from 1958 suggested that all IBM employees had their teeth capped by a company dentist - this earned an official denial).

But hey, how can you possibly begrudge a man described by the Hoover-era FBI as a "raving, unconfined nut", let alone the man who accompanied Groucho Marx on his first LSD trip? ®