Banksy Creates Contentious Simpsons Couch Gag

If you didn’t catch the couch gag on this week’s new episode of The Simpsons, you’ve probably heard about it.

In a sequence guest-storyboarded by the British graffiti artist known as Banksy, the sequence’s couch gag is a minute-long sequence critiquing the way the show is put together by animators in South Korea and its merchandise is assembled by cheap foreign labor.

You can take a look at the credits sequence here:

The BBC reports that the sequence, the first done by an outside artist, caused delays and a threatened walkout by the animation department on the show. Executive producer Al Jean told The New York Times the show executed about 95 percent of what was in the storyboards, excising only a few moments for taste.

Jean says that since they had requested a couch gag from Banksy and had successfully bit the hand that fed them in making fun of Fox, he and creator Matt Groening decided to go for it.

Jean also says that while the animation is done in South Korea, the conditions portrayed in the sequence do not represent in any way the real conditions the show’s animators work under.

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