Trivia / The Simpsons S3 E1 "Stark Raving Dad"

• Actor-Inspired Element: Michael Jackson pitched several story ideas for the episode, such as Bart telling everyone in town that Michael Jackson was coming to his house. He also requested that there be a scene in which he and Bart wrote a song together and asked that a joke about Prince be changed to one about Elvis Presley.
• Alan Smithee: For legal reasons, as well as MJ not wanting to make a spectacle out of his guest appearance, Leon Kompowsky in his Michael Jackson voice is credited to someone named John Jay Smith (his normal voice is provided by Hank Azaria). This was the second example of a guest star on the show using a Smithee (Dustin Hoffman was credited as "Sam Etic" for "Lisa's Substitute"); following this, Matt Groening instigated a rule that all guest stars had to be credited under their real names.
• Banned Episode: The episode was pulled from circulation following the broadcast of the documentary Leaving Neverland in 2019, as the producers decided it was no longer appropriate to showcase an episode featuring and celebrating a musician facing new allegations of abuse. It did appear on FXX syndication on October 5, 2019 but was excluded from their The Simpsons Plus+Size Holiday Marathon later that year, has not been rerun since, remains the sole episode that is not available on Disney+ or any digital platform in any country, and is not available on newer pressings of the Season 3 box set.
• Bury Your Art: Shortly after the release of the Leaving Neverland documentary, showrunner Al Jean decided to pull the episode from circulation, removing it not only from syndication, but also all digital distribution and future home video releases, as well as intentionally withholding it from the launch of Disney+. Jean stated that he felt as if Michael used the episode as a method to groom children, thus felt uncomfortable to let it remain viewable anywhere.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: Every few years news outlets seem to "break" the "bombshell" story that someone connected with the show has confirmed the "fan theory" that John Jay Smith's speaking voice was actually Michael Jackson. It was considered an Open Secret ever since the episode first aired — arguably even before, with ads for the episode teasing the appearance — and once the legal restrictions against saying it was Jackson were eased, the show's staff has talked frequently about the creation of the episode.
• Denial of Digital Distribution: This episode was available on sites like Hulu, but it was eventually pulled in 2019 following the release of the controversial documentary Leaving Neverland, which introduced some new allegations about Michael Jackson's child abuse, and is the only Simpsons episode to be excluded from Disney+ in all countries.
• First Appearance: Of Ms. Pommelhorst.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: After the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland brought renewed attention to the sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson, the show's producers made an extremely wide-ranging effort to scrub the episode as much as possible from canon. It's no longer available on streaming services (including Disney+), or on Season 3 box sets produced after the decision (although some people have reported sets that have it removed from the list of episodes on the back cover but still on the disc itself), meaning that already existing sets are the only way fans can legally see it.
• Non-Singing Voice: Leon Kompowsky's singing parts were performed by Kipp Lennon, either because Michael Jackson's contract with his recording company prevented him from doing it himself or because he wanted to play a joke on his brothers and fool them into thinking the impersonator was him (reports vary). Lennon recorded his lines at the same time as Jackson, who found the impersonations humorous. According to Al Jean, Jackson did record versions of the singing parts, and while there have been rumors that those parts were the ones used in the final episode, music editor Chris Ledesma has stated the Lennon versions were used.
• Promoted Fanboy: The entire reason Michael Jackson agreed to do this episode was because he was a huge fan of the show, especially of Bart.
• Uncredited Role: Michael Jackson was credited under the pseudonym "John Jay Smith". As obvious as it may have seemed that "Smith" was, in fact, Jackson, the producers were legally forbidden from confirming it for quite some time.
• What Could Have Been:
  • A Sequel Episode was planned where Leon Kompowsky now believes he's Prince and encourages the town to be free and open with their sexual sides. The episode was dropped when they couldn't get the real Prince to do voicework, in part because he insisted on writing his own script for it, with the showrunners finding his take to be too out-there for network TV.
  • The original plot line for Homer to be committed was that he would escort Barney to the asylum to be treated for his alcoholism, but then start acting crazily upon their arrival, causing the doctors to assumed he was the one to be committed.
  • The episode originally was supposed to end with Kompowsky singing a portion of "Man in the Mirror" in his Michael Jackson voice as he walked down the road, but it was changed to him singing the beginning of "Happy Birthday Lisa".
  • Bart's rhyming slogans when answering the phone were supposed to be a Running Gag from this point on, but the entire crew found they couldn't come up with any more than the two used here!

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