‘The Simpsons’ Showrunner Al Jean likes to theorize and invent stories on-the-spot.
At least that’s what I gathered when he decided to theorize, without evidence or clues leading up to it, that Michael Jackson used a Simpsons episode to ‘Groom Boys’ This all comes amidst the firestorm that has happened ever since the Jackson doc "Leaving Neverland” premiered on HBO.
Al Jean was interviewed by The Daily Beast when he said that he believed part of the reason Jackson agreed to appear on “The Simpsons” was to appeal to a younger demographic to help him “groom” his boys. This was said with no evidence to back up his claims.
Jean’s specific quote reads: “I think it was part of what he used to groom boys. I really don’t know, and I should be very careful because this is not something I know personally, but as far as what I think, that’s what I think. And that makes me very, very sad.”
This comes after “The Simpsons” co-creator James L. Brooks decided to pull the famous Jackson episode, “Stark Raving Dad” from ever being aired again as part of the show’s reruns on television and streaming content.
“Stark Raving Dad” aired September 19, 1991 and had Jackson voicing a character named Leon Kompowsky, a New Yorker, and mental institution patient, who believed to be the real Michael Jackson.
Jean continued, “I lose a little bit of money financially, it’s not something that’s great personally to lose one of the most successful things I ever did, but I totally think it’s the right move. I don’t believe in going through and making judgments on every guest star and saying ‘this one was bad, that one was bad,’ but the episode itself has a false purpose, and that’s what I object to about it now.”
“The Simpsons” removing its Michael Jackson episode comes after several radio stations have also stopped playing the musician’s songs in the aftermath of the documentary.
As for the Jackson claims that he sexually abused the two men in the documentary. I have no opinion on whether he did it or not. I have followed the Jackson case for the better part of two decades, shifting opinions more times than I can remember, to the point where I have just shifted on permanent neutrality.
All I can say, for certain, is that Jackson was vetted by the FBI, he was found innocent in multiple courts of law by our legal system. I find it disheartening that a documentary is being released 10 years after he is dead by people who chose not to speak up when he was facing these charges.
Now, this comes out again when it cannot be proven, when they cannot tell their stores to a court and jury, and without a fair trial. And so, what I’ve seen the last month or so, since the doc premiered, is the media playing judge and jury and deciding what we can watch and listen to. These are unfounded accusations that can never be tried, and if found true, dealt with by severity of the law.
I am mostly wagging my finger at the media, who think they have the right to tell us what we can and cannot watch or listen too.