--- title: The Simpsons Pulls Michael Jackson Episode After HBO Doc description: The Simpsons has pulled one of its fan favorite episodes featuring Michael Jackson's voice following the release of 'Leaving Neverland'. canonical: https://time.com/5548035/simpsons-michael-jackson/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-08T16:14:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:57:59.865Z og:title: 'The Simpsons' Pulls Michael Jackson Episode og:description: After the release of Leaving Neverland og:url: https://time.com/5548035/simpsons-michael-jackson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da87c839f4e8841/6989466cdb298705db261f58/the-simpsons-pulls-michael-jackson-episode.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: FOX's "The Simpsons" - Season Twenty-Eight og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'The Simpsons' Pulls Michael Jackson Episode twitter:description: After the release of Leaving Neverland twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da87c839f4e8841/6989466cdb298705db261f58/the-simpsons-pulls-michael-jackson-episode.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _The Simpsons_ Pulls Michael Jackson Episode Following HBO's _Leaving Neverland_ Release  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Mar 8, 2019 4:14 PM UTC  THE SIMPSONS: Homer wants a promotion at the nuclear plant and asks Marge to help him dress the part in the all-new Trust But Clarify episode of THE SIMPSONS airing Sunday, Oct. 23 (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (Photo by FOX via Getty Images) THE SIMPSONS: Homer wants a promotion at the nuclear plant and asks Marge to help him dress the part in the all-new Trust But Clarify episode of THE SIMPSONS airing Sunday, Oct. 23 (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (Photo by FOX via Getty Images)FOX—2016 FOX  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Mar 8, 2019 4:14 PM UTC [_The Simpsons_](http://time.com/3636198/the-simpsons-25-years/) is pulling an episode featuring the voice of [Michael Jackson](http://time.com/5510748/leaving-neverland-michael-jackson/), following the release of the controversial HBO documentary [_Leaving Neverland._](http://time.com/5541385/michael-jackson-leaving-neverland-legacy/) In an interview with the [_Wall Street Journal_](https://www.wsj.com/articles/simpsons-episode-featuring-michael-jacksons-voice-to-be-pulled-11552007802), James L. Brooks, the show’s longtime executive producer, said that removing the 1991 episode titled “Stark Raving Dad,” was “clearly the only choice to make.” The episode featured Jackson’s voice as a character named Leon Kompowsky, a patient in a mental institution who believes that he is Michael Jackson; the episode was a fan favorite, especially since it features a memorable scene where Jackson sings a special birthday song to Lisa. The episode has already been removed from Simpsons World and Brooks said that the process has been started to remove it from syndication and future physical media editions. “I’m against book burning of any kind, but this is our book, and we’re allowed to take out a chapter,” Brooks said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5548035/simpsons-michael-jackson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5548035/simpsons-michael-jackson/"},"headline":"The Simpsons Pulls Michael Jackson Episode Following HBO's Leaving Neverland Release","datePublished":"2019-03-08T16:14:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:57:59.865Z","description":"Here's what you need to know","url":"https://time.com/5548035/simpsons-michael-jackson/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da87c839f4e8841/6989466cdb298705db261f58/the-simpsons-pulls-michael-jackson-episode.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da87c839f4e8841/6989466cdb298705db261f58/the-simpsons-pulls-michael-jackson-episode.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FOX's \"The Simpsons\" - Season Twenty-Eight","caption":"FOX's \"The Simpsons\" - Season Twenty-Eight","creditText":"FOX—2016 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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5548035/simpsons-michael-jackson/","name":"The Simpsons Pulls Michael Jackson Episode Following HBO's Leaving Neverland Release"}}]}] ```