A Major ‘Simpsons’ Controversy Led To An Elaborate, Epic Prank
The Simpsons has a long history of pissing off real life locations, from New Orleans, to Brazil, to countless towns named “Springfield.” But the time the show angered East St. Louis, Illinois was especially memorable, since it ended up leading to one of the show’s oddest behind-the-scenes incidents.
At one point in the season ten episode “They Saved Lisa’s Brain,” Comic Book Guy brags that the town of Springfield had recently moved up to “number 299 on the list of America’s 300 most livable cities,” before adding, “take that East St. Louis!”
While the show didn’t receive a single complaint from Ebola, RI, the episode’s writer, Matt Selman, was soon contacted by someone from East, St. Louis.
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“Me, being a young idiot at the time, received a phone call from a reporter from the local St. Louis paper, saying like, ‘Hey Simpsons, why are you taking a shot at East St. Louis?’” Selman explained on the episode’s DVD commentary. “And I should have said, ‘Ah you know it’s all in good fun, we love East St. Louis.’ But instead I said, ‘Because it’s a crack-ridden slum. Ha ha ha.’”
Selman then left town for a two-week vacation to Greece. And while he was out of the country, then-Simpsons showrunner Mike Scully was contacted by Fox’s publicist, who informed him of a “big problem.”
“Matt’s comments, his joke about East St. Louis, had been taken very seriously in East St. Louis,” Scully said. “And they were really upset about the reference to their fair city. And we were getting a lot of calls and complaints and demands for an apology, and that sort of thing.”
To get back at Selman upon his return, the rest of the Simpsons team decided to hire a fake East St. Louis mayor to come to their offices and confront Selman. Writer and producer Al Jean suggested that they ask Marc Wilmore (brother of Larry Wilmore) who was writing for The PJs at the time.
“I did some research about East St. Louis on the internet and came in as the mayor,” Wilmore recalled. He donned an outfit befitting a working class politician and pretended that he was in town for “a mayor’s conference.”
The “mayor” was welcomed into the writers room, with a group of around twenty people gathered to witness the prank. Selman, the only person who didn’t know the mayor’s true identity, began by immediately throwing his fellow writers on the bus, claiming that the show is really a “collaboration” and “the whole room writes the script.”
Wilmore, who Selman noted gave an “Oscar-worthy performance,” began “describing all of the good qualities of East St. Louis that the public should know about, and how remarks like Matt’s really hurts (their) cause.” He also told the writer that the joke caused him to be “embarrassed and humiliated” in front of the Governor.
Over the course of the twenty minute conversation, Wilmore also complained that his “son was teased at school” thanks to Selman, and that “the Fox affiliate was going to be thrown off the air” as a result of the episode.
“I was terrified,” Selman admitted. “Never once did it occur to me to just look behind me to the twenty people who were biting their arms to try to keep from laughing and blowing the joke.”
When Wilmore lunged at him, Selman “nearly pissed” his pants, but quickly realized that he’d been had. “When he grabbed me, that's when I turned around and everyone was laughing,” Selman said. “It was one of the most exciting, hilarious and scary and fantastic experiences of my life.”
At least they never had to try and hire a fake Prime Minister of Australia.
