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Simpsons episode featuring Michael Jackson missing from Disney+

Singer voiced a character and wrote a song for the season three premiere

Ellie Harrison
Thursday 14 November 2019 09:25 GMT
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Disney+ announce service will be available to UK

A classic episode of The Simpsons featuring Michael Jackson has been omitted from Disney’s new streaming service.

The pop star voiced a character and wrote a song for the 1991 season three premiere, entitled “Stark Raving Dad”.

He played Leon Kompowsky, a man who meets Homer Simpson in a psychiatric hospital and claims to be the King of Pop.

While the full Simpsons library is available to stream for the first time in the show's history on Disney+, Jackson’s episode is missing.

The Independent has contacted Disney for a comment regarding why the episode has not been included.

In the wake of Leaving Neverland – a documentary in which Wade Robson and James Safechuck accuse the singer of sexually abusing them as children – in March, the episode was removed from TV broadcasts.

At the time, the show’s executive producer James L Brooks said “it feels clearly the only choice to make” to withdraw the episode.

Brooks added that his fellow executive producers Matt Groening and Al Jean agreed with the decision. “The guys I work with – where we spend our lives arguing over jokes – were of one mind on this,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

“This was a treasured episode,” said Brooks. “There are a lot of great memories we have wrapped up in that one, and this certainly doesn’t allow them to remain.”

He added: “I’m against book burning of any kind. But this is our book, and we’re allowed to take out a chapter.”

Jackson’s estate has vehemently denied all allegations of sexual abuse by the singer.

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