It doesn’t usually take all that much to turn The Simpsons’ fandom into a deluge of hot takes, whether they be positive, negative, or a heaping mixture of both. Such was the case in the days following the airing of Season 35’s “McMansion & Wife,” an episode in which Homer joked about “strangling the boy” in front of a new neighbor, only to sweep the act under the rug by saying he doesn’t do that anymore. The supposed shift in parenting sparked myriad opinions from all sides, but all the moral commentary was for naught, with co-creator James L. Brooks firmly putting his foot down (presumably not on Bart’s crotch) in clarifying the situation.
Three weeks after the episode in question first aired, the TV legend that helped bring The Simpsons to life spoke with People and confirmed beyond a shadow (knight) of a doubt that Homer did not suddenly fall backwards into better parenting skills, and there are no plans to formally cease that element of this father-son relationship. According to Brooks:
Don’t think for a second we’re changing anything. . . . Nothing's getting tamed. Nothing, nothing, nothing. He'll continue to be strangled—[if] you want to use that awful term for it. He'll continue to be loved by his father in a specific way.
Considering all the times The Simpsons has appeared to correctly predict the future, from Olympic gold for U.S. men’s curling to seemingly impossible car accidents, it’s perhaps understandable that viewers would think Homer eschewing strangulation as a punishment was setting a legitimate precedent for the rest of its record-breaking run on Fox. It’s also a show whose creative team occasionally uses real-world fan reactions for jokes and references — showrunner Matt Selman talked to CinemaBlend about the (for now) final use of the Homer hedge GIF — so it makes total sense that Homer’s line is
But sometimes a spade is a spade, and sometimes a character who has spent 35 years bullshitting anyone and everyone around him is still a bullshitter. And though Homer may not be a fountain of couth, he holds just enough common sense to grasp that he probably shouldn't weight the pros and cons of squeezing Bart's neck out loud, much less in front of outsiders.
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Though James L. Brooks only now had the chance to speak directly to fans on the matter, co-creator Matt Groening himself responded to the fracas by penning a new shot of Homer throttling his pointy-haired kiddo.
Homer Simpson was unavailable for comment as he was busy strangling Bart. pic.twitter.com/Yh6koeqTQSNovember 9, 2023
Will these clarifications put an end all the fanbase's opinions floating around the Internet? Of course not. Instead, now the argument gets flipped around, with the formerly angry viewers championing the lack of change, while the formerly pleased viewers will decry the continued abuse. Not that Homer has actually strangled Bart with any regularity in recent years, with the last instance happening in Season 31.
The Simpsons' past seasons are available to stream with a Disney+ subscription, while new episodes air Sunday nights on Fox, and are available to stream the next day with a Hulu subscription.
