Simpsons Producer Reveals Turning Down Trump

The Wrap reports:

He may have won the White House, but Donald Trump apparently lost out on another coveted honor: voicing a character on “The Simpsons.” During the animated show’s San Diego Comic-Con panel on Saturday, a fan asked if the long-running Fox series has ever turned down a celebrity’s request to join the Springfield fray.

After pausing for a moment, executive producer Al Jean replied, “Let’s just say he’s the president of the United States.” Another audience member asked if Fox has ever nixed ideas that the “Simpsons” writers have come up with over the years. “We started doing Fox News jokes, and they asked us to take it easy on them,” creator Matt Groening replied.

More from the Hollywood Reporter:

“Lock him up!” That was the surprising chant heard coming from Ballroom 20 on Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con. It was none other than Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who kicked things off when the discussion at the show’s Comic-Con panel turned to, naturally, President Donald Trump.

After opening with a clip of animated Trump from this past season, the conversation turned to politics when Groening revealed that they had been asked by parent company 21st Century Fox to take it easy on Fox News after a joke that dubbed Fox News “not racist, but No. 1 with racists.”

“Then Bill O’Reilly called us pinheads and look what happened,” Groening added with a laugh of the now-ousted anchor. It was then that Groening asked fans to start chanting the phrase, a new take on the “Lock her up” chant that conservatives used in reference to Hillary Clinton.