Simpsons episodes pulled over nuclear jokes

The nuclear disaster in Japan has moved at least one Canadian broadcaster to pull episodes of The Simpsons from its rotation.

OMNI Television spokeswoman Koreen Ott said the station, which airs reruns of The Simpsons at 6 p.m., has “pulled any nuclear episodes from The Simpsons” from the air.

“We’re reviewing our inventory for any further sensitive episodes.”

Ott could not say which episodes have been pulled, but added that the station was provided a list of questionable episodes from Fox, which airs The Simpsons in the United States.


OMNI Television is not alone. Television stations in Europe have also pulled nuclear-related episodes.


Austria’s ORF network has already pulled two episodes from its rotation: “Marge Gets a Job,” which features scientists Marie and Pierre Curie turning into zombies after being exposed to radiation; and “On a Clear Day I Can’t See My Sister,” in which jokes are made about a nuclear meltdown.

The Comedy Network said in an email it has no plans to schedule either of the two episodes listed above at this time.

The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean told ew.com, he understands if some episodes of his show are pulled due to current real-life events in Japan.

“We have 480 episodes, and if there are a few that they don't want to air for awhile in light of the terrible thing going on, I completely understand that,” he said.

This isn’t the first time The Simpsons has been pulled because it made light of a real-life situation. A television station in Australia yanked an episode that was supposed to air this month because it made light of a tsunami.

Also, shortly after 9/11 an episode in which Homer goes to New York was pulled for awhile because it showed the World Trade Center.

Global TV, which also air reruns of the comedy, has not confirmed if it has pulled any episodes.

Meanwhile, English-language video of the pulled episodes are hard to come by online, but that shouldn’t stop you from finding the humour in this clip. (It might even add to it.)

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