It’s not unusual for The Simpsons’ annual “Treehouse of Horror” episodes to get political. Normally, that is because of the present’s frequent proximity to U.S. presidential elections, therefore why we as soon as received an episode by which Bob Dole and Invoice Clinton get stripped bare and shot into the chilly vacuum of area.
Whilst you may not anticipate these episodes to be taken significantly in a courtroom of legislation, a number of “Treehouse of Horror” episodes have been practically a part of a billion greenback defamation trial involving allegations of electoral fraud.
As you could recall, in 2021, Dominion Voting Programs sued Fox Information for $1.6 billion, alleging that the cable information community “purposely aired false claims concerning the firm’s function within the 2020 presidential election in an effort to enhance scores.” Fox ultimately settled the case for $737 million, maybe as a result of their “key supply” for the election fraud claims was a girl who claims to be a ghost that may speak to the wind.
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However earlier than the settlement was reached, Fox had a strong plan for how you can make their case in courtroom: enjoying outdated episodes of The Simpsons.
In 2023, NBC reported that Fox’s “prolonged listing of trial reveals” included 4 clips from the long-running cartoon, together with the opening to Season 20’s “Treehouse of Horror XIX,” by which Homer makes an attempt to vote for Barack Obama, however the digital machine retains altering his choice to “John McCain” earlier than ultimately killing him.
Additionally they deliberate to point out the start of “Treehouse of Horror XXXI” from 2020, which illustrates how a dystopian hellscape varieties after Homer neglects to vote.
Additionally they chosen two non-Halloween electoral themed on-line shorts — in “Homer Votes 2012,” Homer casts his digital poll for Mitt Romney (since he “did invent Obamacare”) solely to, once more, be dragged into an evil voting machine.
In “Homer Votes 2016,” he makes an attempt to assist Hillary Clinton (and “not the man who actually likes his daughter”), however runs into Vladimir Putin on the polling web site. It wasn’t precisely the franchise’s most interesting hour.
What level was Fox Information making an attempt to make with these assorted clips? It’s unclear. Had been they making an attempt for instance that voting machines generally homicide individuals? Or have been they going to argue that they need to solely be held as much as the identical journalistic requirements as a literal cartoon?
Maybe this irrelevant proof was a part of some crafty technique. Like when The Simpsons’ blue-haired lawyer character requested a jury to debate the attractiveness of Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson (it was the ‘90s) as a result of he was so assured within the defendant’s guilt, he may “waste the courtroom’s time by score the tremendous hunks.”
We’ll by no means know what the plan was as a result of a settlement was finally reached — presumably as a result of Dominion’s legal professionals caught most of an episode of Matlock in a bar with the pontificate.
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