‘Simpsons’ Producers to Pull Michael Jackson Episode After ‘Leaving Neverland’

A “Simpsons” episode featuring the voice of late pop star Michael Jackson will be pulled from circulation after the airing of a documentary detailing sexual abuse allegations against the music icon. According to the Wall Street Journal, producers James Brooks, Matt Groening, and Al Jean came to the decision after watching the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland—which focuses on two men who claim Jackson molested them as children. “The guys I work with—where we spend our lives arguing over jokes—were of one mind on this,” Brooks said, adding that the film provided “evidence of [Jackson's] monstrous behavior.” In the 1991 episode, Jackson voiced a character named Leon Kompowsky—who stays in a mental institution with Homer Simpson and believes he is Jackson. “This was a treasured episode,” Brooks said. “There are a lot of great memories we have wrapped up in that one, and this certainly doesn’t allow them to remain.”