Homer Simpson won’t be winning any Father of the Year awards anytime soon.
A recent episode of The Simpsons hinted that Homer’s habit of disciplining his son Bart via strangulation had finally been curbed but show co-creator James L. Brooks is here to set the record straight. Brooks told People that Homer will still happily choke the living daylights out of his kid whenever the mood strikes.
“Nothing’s getting tamed,” he said. “Nothing, nothing, nothing … He’ll continue to be strangled — you want to use that awful term for it. He’ll continue to be loved by his father in a specific way.”
Ahhh yes, cutting off a child’s oxygen supply — it’s what all the parenting books recommend. In all seriousness, Simpsons die-hards were weirdly irked by the absence of the show’s long-running gag. Homer’s been strangling Bart since 1987, but in an October episode, he seemed to suggest he’d changed his ways. After a new neighbor compliments him on his firm handshake, Homer tells his wife Marge that years of “strangling the boy has paid off,” before confirming he doesn’t “do that anymore” because “times have changed.”
I just found out that, after over 30 years, The Simpsons has finally retired their long-running gag of Homer strangling Bart.
Took them long enough lmao pic.twitter.com/JuHyNu1eiK
— Simon A. (Baby Lamb Creations) (@BabyLamb5) November 2, 2023
The episode launched a full-scale investigation into Homer’s problematic disciplinary choices with IGN reporting the animated patriarch hadn’t resorted to choking Bart in years which prompted The Simpsons official Twitter account to share this statement:
Homer Simpson was unavailable for comment as he was busy strangling Bart. pic.twitter.com/Yh6koeqTQS
— The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) November 9, 2023
So much for gentle parenting, we guess?
(Via Deadline)