The Simpsons has stirred up its fair share of controversy over the years, but it’s practically unheard of for the showrunners to edit out a joke because of it. However, one rare exception occurred after the debut of the Season 4 episode “Marge Gets a Job.”
In the show’s subplot, Bart pretends to have several diseases so he can get out of taking a test at school, which, according to Mrs. Krabappel, includes an “unfortunate bout of Tourette’s syndrome.” When she brings the latter disease up, Bart tells her that he isn’t sure he’s over it, and carries on acting like he has the disorder:
The day after the show originally aired, a 13-year-old boy with Tourette’s wrote to Simpsons creator Matt Groening and executive director Mike Weiss, asking them not to rerun the episode. Furthermore, the boy, Joshua Smith, said he wanted the producers to have Bart befriend a person with Tourette’s in a later episode.
“And I want them to have Bart apologize at the end of the show,” he continued. Smith was also planning to hire a lawyer in order to file a case against the network.
‘The Simpsons’ Once Edited a Joke About Tourette’s Syndrome After a Teenager Complained
In response, Weiss sent Smith a letter apologizing for the joke, along with some Simpsons souvenirs. The network even agreed to remove the offending segment from future broadcasts. “It is unprecedented in our show, but we decided to change that animation,” explained Fox spokesperson Antonia Coffman. “We agreed it was inappropriate.”
Nowadays, the footage in question is dubbed over, with Mrs. Krabappel saying “rabies” in place of “Tourette’s syndrome.” Interestingly enough, though, Bart’s Tourette’s imitation was kept intact. On top of that, Bart can still be heard muttering about Tourette’s under his breath after his fake outburst backfires. As for Smith’s legal threat, nothing ever came of it, and Bart never ended up befriending anybody with Tourette’s as he requested.
You can see how the segment was edited in the video below.
It was “Marge Gets A Job,” but yes. Here is the clip of the original airing followed by the re-dub. What’s silly is they didn’t change Bart’s response to “Tourette’s”, so now it makes it seem like he thinks having rabies makes you shout expletives. https://t.co/1odcUEloFl pic.twitter.com/qiwqvUUVuu
— On This Day in Simpsons History
(@dailysimpsons) August 10, 2020
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