'The Simpsons' Acknowledged Homer Stopped Strangling Bart on The Show With A Joke: 'Times Have Changed'

Homer hasn't put his hands around Bart's neck since season 31, which aired between 2019 and 2020.

November 6, 2023

The days of Homer Simpson strangling Bart on Fox animated sitcom The Simpsons are over.

On the 35th season episode "McMansion & Wife," which premiered on Oct. 22, the fictional father of three (Dan Castellaneta) met his new neighborhood Thayer (Hank Azaria), who mentioned that Homer had "quite a grip" when the two shook hands.

"See, Marge, strangling the boy has paid off," Simpson said to his wife, Marge. "Just kidding. I don't do that anymore."

He continued, "Times have changed!"

Homer Simpson held the tradition of strangling Bart (Nancy Cartwright) since the show's 1989 debut, becoming a running gag. In a 2000 episode titled "Behind The Laughter," which parodied Behind The Music, the writers poked fun at the origin of Homer choking Bart, with Homer saying, "And that horrible act of child abuse became one of our most beloved running gags."

As IGN points out, Homer hasn't put his hands around Bart's neck since season 31, which aired between 2019 and 2020. Removing the gag makes sense, as the depiction of domestic violence has grown to be frowned upon in modern television and film.

The Simpsons has been called to reflect on its problematic content since the 2017 documentary, The Problem with Apu, which centered the on stereotypical portrayal of the show's prominent Indian character of the same name. Azaria retired himself from voicing the role in early 2020, later appearing on Dax Shepard's podcast Armchair Expert and said that he felt like a “big part in creating the problem to begin with.”

“I apologize for my part in creating that and participating in that,” Azaria added. “Part of me feels like I need to go to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologize. And sometimes I do.”

The show continues to strive for racial accuracy. In early 2021, The Simpsons character, Dr. Hibbert, who is Black, was replaced with voice actor Kevin Michael Richardson after being portrayed for decades by white actor Harry Shearer.