--- title: The Simpsons' Groundskeeper Willie Supports Scottish Independence description: "I've lived in America most of my life, so I've seen first-hand how not to run a country." canonical: https://time.com/3372547/the-simpsons-groundskeeper-willie-scottish-independence/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-14T14:24:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:13:10.308Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Groundskeeper Willie Comes Out in Favor of Scottish Independence og:description: No word yet on whether Shrek has picked a side og:url: https://time.com/3372547/the-simpsons-groundskeeper-willie-scottish-independence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa792d8229ff95b6/6986a339810bbbb9fac93690/willie-simpsons-scotland.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: willie-simpsons-scotland og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Groundskeeper Willie Comes Out in Favor of Scottish Independence twitter:description: No word yet on whether Shrek has picked a side twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa792d8229ff95b6/6986a339810bbbb9fac93690/willie-simpsons-scotland.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _The Simpsons'_ Groundskeeper Willie Wants an Independent Scotland  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Sep 14, 2014 2:24 PM UTC  Fox  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Sep 14, 2014 2:24 PM UTC As the debate over Scottish independence [heats up](http://time.com/3309069/u-k-leaders-to-make-last-minute-scotland-trip/) ahead of the Sept. 18 referendum, the world is _finally_ hearing from key figures in global politics — like _The Simpsons_‘ Groundskeeper Willie, the self-professed “prodigal son” of Scotland and the groundskeeper at Springfield Elementary School. While Willie tries to be diplomatic about the close vote, it’s clear he’s on the side of independence — if only so he can throw his name into the pile as a potential leader. His platform? “I’ve lived in America most of my life,” he says, “so I’ve seen first-hand how not to run a country.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3372547/the-simpsons-groundskeeper-willie-scottish-independence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3372547/the-simpsons-groundskeeper-willie-scottish-independence/"},"headline":"The Simpsons' Groundskeeper Willie Wants an Independent Scotland","datePublished":"2014-09-14T14:24:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:10.308Z","description":"\"I've lived in America most of my life, so I've seen first-hand how not to run a country.\"","url":"https://time.com/3372547/the-simpsons-groundskeeper-willie-scottish-independence/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Scottish Independence","The Simpsons","Scotland topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa792d8229ff95b6/6986a339810bbbb9fac93690/willie-simpsons-scotland.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa792d8229ff95b6/6986a339810bbbb9fac93690/willie-simpsons-scotland.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"willie-simpsons-scotland","caption":"","creditText":"Fox","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3372547/the-simpsons-groundskeeper-willie-scottish-independence/","name":"The Simpsons' Groundskeeper Willie Wants an Independent Scotland"}}]}] ```