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Fox News Considered Suing Fox's "The Simpsons"

ZeDanimal writes "The Simpsons' pooh-bah Matt Groening said in an NPR interview this week that the Fox News Channel considered legal action against the show for its parody of the station's news ticker. Broadcast, of course, by Fox Entertainment, the episode that raised the ire of the "Fair and Balanced" Fox News crew was Krusty For Congress, which mocked the perceived rightward-leanings of the channel with pseudo-news items such as "Do Democrats cause cancer?" and "Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple" scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Guess the powers-that-be learned something from the Al Franken affair... or maybe they just feared getting into a popularity contest with the likes of the inanimate carbon rod."

2 of 840 comments (clear)

  1. Ob.Simpsons.quote by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 0, Redundant
    Someone posted this on Fark, I thought it was funny.

    This is the scroll from that episode of the Simpsons, and the thing that Fox thinks will confuse their viewers. What they fail to realize is that this kind of viewer is already watching Fox.

    pointless news crawls up 37 percent ... do Democrats cause cancer? find out at FoxNews.com ... Rupert Murdoch: terrific dancer ... DOW down 5000 points ... study: 92 percent of Democrats are gay ... JFK posthumously joins Republican Party ... oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple ... Dan Quayle:: Awesome ... Ashcroft declares breast of chicken sandwich "OBSCENE" ... Hillary Clinton embarrases self, Nation ... Bible says Jesus favoured Capital-Gainss Cut ... stay tuned for HANNITY AND IDIOT ... only dorks watch CNN ... Jimmy Carter: old, wrinkly, useless ... Brad Pitt + Albert Einstein = Dick Cheney ... risgt wing of chicken [cuts off here]

    --
    If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
  2. They have been asking for it. by AchmedHabib · · Score: 1, Redundant

    I figured that the reason tv shows only made fun of other shows on their own network was to avoid getting sued.
    Anyway, Fox "news" can't be accused for providing balanced news. It should be clear to anyone with half a brain that it is no more than a combination of infotainment and goverment provoganda.
    "They are not afraid to tell the truth, that everything is just fine", to quote Simpsons.
    It became painfully clear under the war in Iraq where they often choose not to cover different events that would provide the viewer with the information they needed to be able to form their own opinion. An example could be how the little victories were told over and over again but the defeats and losses not mentioned with one word.
    It seemed embarrasing and akward in these sattelite times where one just had to turn to other channels (even BBC) and the shortcomings of Fox "news" became clear.