A ‘Simpsons’ Fan’s ‘BORT’ License Plate Totally Backfired
The Simpson family’s vacation to Itchy & Scratchy Land found them battling killer robots with disposable cameras, mingling with John Travolta and celebrating New Year’s Eve over and over again (at the expense of the T.G.I. McScratchy's Goodtime Foodrinkery’s serving staff’s mental health).
But one of the most memorable scenes in the Season Six episode came when Bart attempted to buy a personalized novelty license plate with his name on it. After bemoaning that the shop’s selection included “Bort,” but not “Bart,” he suddenly found himself surrounded by Borts.
The park was so jam-packed with Borts that the gift shop eventually sold out of “BORT” license plates.
While the show sadly didn’t bring about a rise in babies being named “Bort,” it did inspire one woman to get a real life “BORT” license plate. Unfortunately, that decision has proven to be surprisingly costly.
As reported by WBZ NewsRadio, per The Daily Dot, Massachusetts resident and Simpsons aficionado Katie Unis outfitted her vehicle with a “BORT” vanity plate, which costs around $80 per year. And while that may sound like a small price to pay for having an awesome license plate, there’s one big problem with this specific plate.
Full-size “BORT” souvenir license plates are regularly sold online to Simpsons fans, and Unis soon discovered that they look surprisingly similar to actual Massachusetts plates – so much so that cameras belonging to the state’s electronic tolling system, E-ZPass, have been mistakenly accepting them as genuine. Meaning that when someone slaps one of these novelty plates on their car to avoid paying tolls, Unis, as the owner of the legit “BORT” registration, ends up getting stuck with the bill.
“I’m continuing to get notices and I don’t know when they’ll stop,” she told WBZ.
@wbznewsradio
While Simpsons fans all across the country have legit custom “BORT” plates, it’s seemingly only the Massachusetts plate design that looks enough like the Itchy & Scratchy Land original for this to be an issue.
Now that she’s being asked to “pay for multiple cars in multiple locations,” Unis is disputing the charges. “It’s really funny, and I appreciate it, but it’s causing me a little bit of a headache,” she said.
If she opts to change license plates, just make sure to pick something other than “ASSMAN.”
