There’s One Episode of "The Simpsons" So Controversial, You Won’t Find It on Disney+

Trigger Warning: This article discusses sexual assault and child sex abuse.

If you spend the first few weeks of your Disney+ subscription binge-watching The Simpsons, you may get to the end of the 245th hour and think, "Hmm, that felt a touch short."

That’s because at least one episode from the show’s 30 seasons is not available on the streaming service, according to THR.

That’d be "Stark Raving Dad", the Season 3 premiere in which Homer goes to a mental institution and meets a large white man claiming to be Michael Jackson.

Back in 1991, Jackson was such a fan of the series he reached out to the producers to serve as a guest star. Sneakily, he was only credited as John Jay Smith when the episode debuted on TV.

In the years since, the episode has become beloved, largely thanks to the inclusion of the song "Happy Birthday Lisa" (written by Jackson but ironically performed by an impersonator). 

More recently, however, the episode has become infamous, due to changing sentiment towards Jackson, who was accused of child sexual abuse in 1993. He was again accused in 2005.

When these claims resurfaced in the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, the makers of The Simpsons requested that the episode "Stark Raving Dad" be pulled from syndication (which is when episodes are repeated on television).

One of the show’s creators, James L. Brooks, told the Wall Street Journal back in March, "The guys I work with—where we spend our lives arguing over jokes—were of one mind on this."

"I’m against book-burning of any kind. But this is our book, and we’re allowed to take out a chapter."

Producer Al Jean elaborated to the Daily Beast on why they felt the episode was now so troubling: "I think it was part of what [Jackson] used to groom boys."

(The estate of Michael Jackson continues to deny all allegations against him.)

Though you could still find the episode on the DVD box sets, it was wondered whether or not it would become available as part of the Disney+ streaming library.

However, when Disney+ went live in the United States this week, "Stark Raving Dad" was nowhere to be found.

It's not the only part of history to get scrubbed by Disney+ either.

For instance, Disney has famously kept its racist film Song of the South deep in the Disney vault. In other instances, it has provided contextual disclaimers to explain that some older projects, including Dumbo, contain sequences that are no longer considered acceptable today.

But the question remains: Should Disney have made "Stark Raving Dad", and even Song of the South, available to viewers? Or do they deserve to be forgotten in the sands of time?

In a far less incendiary revelation, fans are also complaining that episodes of The Simpsons aren’t available in their original 4:3 aspect ratio on Disney+, resulting in some visual gags getting cut out of the widescreen edits. Boy I really hope someone got fired for that blunder.

Disney+ will be available in Australia from 19 November.

Header Image: Disney