Groening: 'Simpsons' was threatened by FNC

Matt Groening, creator of long-running cartoon series The Simpsons, has revealed that the show was threatened with legal action by the FOX News Channel.

According to Groening, FNC was miffed after an episode of the show - which airs on the FOX network - poked fun at its rolling news ticker.

The episode in question featured a "FOX News crawl" at the bottom of the screen parodying items featured on the channel. It read: "Pointless news crawls up 37 per cent ... Do Democrats cause cancer? Find out at foxnews.com ... Rupert Murdoch: Terrific dancer ... Dow down 5000 points ... Study: 92 per cent of Democrats are gay ... JFK posthumously joins Republican Party ... Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple ..."

Speaking to National Public Radio, Groening said that he was threatened with legal action after the episode aired.

"We did the crawl along the bottom of the screen," he said. "Fox said they would sue the show. And we called their bluff because we didn't think Rupert Murdoch would pay for Fox to sue itself. We got away with it. But now Fox has a new rule that we can't do those little fake news crawls on the bottom of the screen in a cartoon because it might confuse the viewers into thinking it's real news."

An FNC spokesman denied that a lawsuit was ever in question, however. "We are scratching our heads over here," he said. "We liked the cartoon. We thought it was great."

(c)2003 Digital Spy

FOX news Sucks!!

Clair wrote in message news:[email]...

Why? Groening might be lying. Consider the sources for this story. NPR. Groening.

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" - General George S. Patton.

Why would Groening be lying? Fox News was satirised by Groening, not the other way around. Get a clue.

Because FOX and Groening have had past problems. Because FOX all but destroyed Futurama.

FOX flatly denied the entire story. Without anything besides Groening's interview on NPR, there's no basis to believe the story at all. That's not to say that FOX didn't get upset of the FOX News spoof.

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" - General George S. Patton.

[email] (Chris �) wrote in message news:...

I think Matt gets the benift of the doubt here. Think about it, the Bush Propeganda Network already delt with one lawsuit which didn't go their way, why would they want to admit to another. Besides, I heard that interview, it didn't sound like he was lying.

You obviously have a huge bias against FOX News, which renders your impartiality in this matter as moot. I, OTOH am a Simpson fan and FOX News supporter and I don't know whom to believe. FOX may be covering it's ass after making a verbal threat to Groening, or a bitter Groening may have taken a swipe at the network he feels interferes too much in his show's writing and content.

Either way, it's Groening's word against Fox's. It's a lot easier to believe one man, on his own, would tell a lie than an entire corporation with expensive lawyers and PR specialists on retainer. But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. Who wants pie?

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" - General George S. Patton.

Chris, get bent

FOX news Sucks Dick !

Chris � wrote in message news:[email]...

"Neal" wrote in message news:...

• No top posting, please.

2. During the upcoming season, there needs to be a scene in a Simpsons episode where Bill O'Reilly comes to Springfield and has something bad happen to him. SLH can urinate on his leg. Snowball II can scratch him. MAGGIE CAN SHOOT HIM! Moe can throw him out of the bar. Smithers can come on to him. Something like that.

Space Mvsevm

"Clair" wrote in message news:[email]...

<snip>

:
:

In English: we tried to throw our corporate weight around and it didn't work so we're pretending we don't know what all the fuss is about.

You only have to read Murdoch's "news"papers to realise the guy's full of shit.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20031029/od_afp/lifesty le_us_television_031029172820

Fox nearly sued itself over 'Simpsons' parody: Matt Groening Wed Oct 29,12:28 PM ET Add Offbeat - AFP to My Yahoo!

NEW YORK (AFP) - Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of "The Simpsons" over a parody of the channel's right-wing political stance, the creator of the hit US television show has claimed.

In an interview this week with National Public Radio, Matt Groening recalled how the news channel had considered legal action, despite the fact that "The Simpsons" is broadcast on sister network, Fox Entertainment.

According to Groening, Fox took exception took a Simpsons' version of the Fox News rolling news ticker which parodied the channel's anti-Democrat stance, with headlines like "Do Democrats Cause Cancer?"

"Fox fought against it and said they would sue the show," Groening said.

"We called their bluff because we didn't think Rupert Murdoch would pay for Fox to sue itself. So, we got away with it."

Other satirical Fox news bulletins featured in the show included: "Study: 92 per cent of Democrats are gay... JFK posthumously joins Republican Party... Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple..."

While the lawsuit never materialized, Groening said some action was taken.

"Now Fox has a new rule that we can't do those little fake news crawls on the bottom of the screen in a cartoon because it might confuse the viewers into thinking it's real news," he said.

"The Simpsons," featuring the dysfunctional family of patriarch Homer Simpson and his rowdy brood, is now in its 14th year and is expected to become the longest-running situation comedy in US history in 2005.

The producers of Fox News need to get a grip. Without the Simpsons practically carrying the entire Fox Network since 1989, there wouldn't be a Fox News right now. Murdoch owes Groening and his team, not the other way around. Fox News should just shut the fuck up.

Even if the Simpsons didn't make Fox succeed, Fox News should shut the fuck up.

Remove "moc" to reply.

Whoever says "Nothing is impossible" has never tried to slam a revolving door. - Willy Walker

In case anybody missed it:

D'oh! 'Simpsons' Producers Say Fox News Didn't Threaten Suit (Friday, October 31 10:39 AM)

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - So it turns out that "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening was joking when he said Fox News had threatened to sue his show over its use of a fake news ticker on an episode last season. Appearing on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" last week, Groening told host Terry Gross that Fox News was upset about the fake ticker, which said things like "JFK Posthumously Joins Republican Party," that appeared in an episode of "The Simpsons" in March.

"Fox fought against it and said that they would sue the show," Groening said. "And we called their bluff because we didn't think that Rupert Murdoch would pay for Fox to sue itself."

Groening's comments came as a surprise to Fox News, which says it never even considered litigating. "We were all scratching our heads and thought it was hysterical," spokesman Rob Zimmerman tells the Washington Post. "It's not the first time we've been spoofed, you know." Producers of "The Simpsons" issued a statement Thursday (Oct. 30) saying echoing those sentiments, and apparently all is well between the two cogs in the News Corp. machine. "Matt was being satirical. ...," the statement says. "We regret any confusion."

<prod>

"Matt was being satirical. We regret any confusion. "So in conclusion, Fox good, NBC bad....CBS great!"

<bang>

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 19:55:36 GMT, "Tim Richards" wrote:

Ya, just like the Starbucks/Haidabucks thing ... Starbucks crawling away licking their own bloody balls while croaking "we won, we won!" ;-)

On 30 Oct 2003 03:47:18 -0800, [email] (Clair) wrote:

This doesn't pass the smell test. Sounds like bluster and storytelling, or et the very least, exaggeration.

It was funny!

"Hitman of Las Vegas" wrote in message news:[email]...

I'd agree... if it hadn't been for the whole Bill O'Reilly/Al Franken mishmash. I wouldn't put ANYTHING past Fox at this point.

The basis for the Franken suit is totally different from what Groening charges. Franken's suit was for trademark infringement for his use of the words "Fair and Balanced" in his latest book's title.

It's absurd to assume FOX would sue the creator of one of it's most popular and highly rated shows.

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" - General George S. Patton.

"Chris �" wrote in message news:[email]...

As it turns out, however, they were only goaded into filing suit against Franken by Bill O'Reilly. Their own lawyers knew the case was without merit, and would only make the network a laughingstock.

"Dr Music" wrote in message news:...

Keep in mind O'Reilly claims that he never told them to sue. That said he is a bold faced liar...

On 31 Oct 2003 17:42:52 -0800, [email] (Jsonitsac) wrote:

To be fair, often holders of trademarks have to send nasty letters and go to court to show a record of trying to defend their TMs, even when they know they will lose (because of parody exceptions, etc).

I have no idea if O'R said sue or not. Do you have some inside info? I can tell you as a lawyer, the decision to persue this was likely unenthusiastically done, going through the motions (literally) so they can show a record of defending their trademarks. O'R's claims notwithstanding, they probably would not have swung the decision either way.

If you don;t defend them, you run the risk of losing them. That was what was going on here, nothing more, no less.

"Hitman of Las Vegas" wrote in message news:[email]...

Well, it turns out our buddy Matt was "just kidding." Good, stand up for someone we all consider ourselves fans of, against someone we all hate, and he just makes us look like jackasses.

Speak for yourself. Not everyone in here has some pathological hatred for Fox News.

Do you have a URL which has Groening saying he was "just kidding"?

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" - General George S. Patton.

"Chris �" wrote in message news:[email]...

I didn't mean you, Chris. ;-) Just everyone else.

It was posted at rec.arts.tv -- the source was zap2it.

"Dr Music" wrote in message news:...

I read somthing similar in a Washington Post article. I'm begining to woner if Fox preasured him into retracting it. I have a hard time beliving that he would just "make up" somthing that insane.

Maybe he did. Maybe FOX isn't the villian here.

What am I saying? Maybe? He DID make it up. He's admitted to doing so. He needs to apologize to FOX News AND Simpsons fans.

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" - General George S. Patton.

What does he have to apologize to anyone for? If it was just a parody on what happened to Al Franken, then it's no big deal. Hell he could've just come up with it because he got bored one day and decided to make up the joke.

Of course if you were being sarcastic, then more power to ya.

It was not a joke. He wasn't being satirical. If he was, he'd have said "just kidding" shortly after. He was serious. He lied. He needs to apologize to FOX.

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" - General George S. Patton.

How exactly do you know what his thought process was at the time? How do you know something wasn't taken the wrong way and lead to a simple misunderstanding?

I suppose we should just agree to disagree on this one since neither of us knows the whole story.

... unless of course you know something the rest of us don't.

He made a definitive statement. Not just one sentence. It was an entire monolouge. He then NEVER even hinted at it being satirical, or that he wasn't being genuine, until the heat became to much for him to bear. He was not joking. He was lying. That's what it's called when you make something up and present it as the truth.

Nice try. I'm not allowing fellow Simpsons fans to escape this using this tired old standby. Groening lied. He should apologize to FOX.

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me" - General George S. Patton.

On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 22:14:24 GMT, "Dr Music" wrote:

Perhaps, instead of blaming Groening for your uncritical acceptance of a wildly implausible lie--er, I mean "joke"--you should resolve to spend less time hating and more time thinking.

On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 00:00:24 GMT, "Dr Music" wrote:

You mean they aren't one already?

I don't believe this at all. I just don't.

And I also don't believe that one FOX entity would seriously consdier suing another FOX entity. Someone at FNC without a sense of humor might have griped about it, but I can't see it being any more than that. This is just Matt having a bit of fun tweaking FOX (which is nothing new for Groening or The Simpsons.)

"James Allen" wrote in message news:[email]...

suing

griped

having

Simpsons.)

You're a little late to the conversation. Groening has already admitted making it up.

That is the part I do not understand. HOW could one part of Fox (Fox News Channel) sue another ("The Simpsons")? Wouldn't Murdoch have to approve the actions of BOTH parts?

Obviously only the idiots who watch Fox News Channel to begin with would get confused by this!

"exploratory" wrote in message news:[email]...

Well, one Time Warner division charges another Time Warner division royalties for the use of the "Road Runner" name on high-speed internet service.

Actually, I watch FNC all the time. I got the joke and found it funny. It's comments like the one you made that piss me off. Just because you dont watch or do something does not make the ones who do, an idiot. Ever think maybe someone watches the show so they can watch another TV station to get BOTH sides of the story? I think anyone as close minded as you are and agrees with your comment is stupid.

"exploratory" wrote in message news:[email]...