Morrissey's Manager Slams The Simpsons After Parody Episode - "Unapologetically Hurtful And Racist"

This past Sunday's episode of The Simpsons featured a parody of The Smiths singer Morrissey, and his manager is having none of it. His manager, Peter Katsis, lashed out at The Simpsons across a series of Facebook posts, calling the show "unapologetically hurtful and racist" and wondering if actor Benedict Cumberbatch--who voiced the fictional version of Morrissey--was hard up for cash and took the job to make a quick buck.

The storyline of the episode, Panic on the Streets of Springfield, follows Lisa as she becomes enamored with a vegan singer from a 1980s indie band (via BBC). She finds out, however, that this person is now a meat-eating, overweight person who does not like immigrants.

Katsis, who is Morrissey's manager, ripped into The Simpsons in a series of Facebook messages not long after Morrissey's Facebook page promoted the episode.

"Surprising what a 'turn for the worst' the writing for The Simpsons TV show has taken in recent years. Sadly, The Simpsons show started out creating great insight into the modern cultural experience, but has since degenerated to trying to capitalize on cheap controversy and expounding on vicious rumors," Katsis said. "Poking fun at subjects is one thing. Other shows like SNL still do a great job at finding ways to inspire great satire. But when a show stoops so low to use harshly hateful tactics like showing the Morrissey character with his belly hanging out of his shirt (when he has never looked like that at any point in his career) makes you wonder who the real hurtful, racist group is here."

"Even worse--calling the Morrissey character out for being a racist, without pointing out any specific instances, offers nothing. It only serves to insult the artist. They should take that mirror and hold it up to themselves," Katsis said.

Katsis said the producers of The Simpsons should know better after everything that happened with Hank Azaria and Apu.

"Unlike the character in the Simpsons 'Panic' episode…….Morrissey has never made a 'cash grab,' hasn't sued any people for their attacks, has never stopped performing great shows, and is still a serious vegan and strong supporter for animal rights," Katsis said. "By suggesting all of the above in this episode…the Simpsons hypocritical approach to their storyline says it all. Truly they are the only ones who have stopped creating, and have instead turned unapologetically hurtful and racist. Not surprising…... that The Simpsons viewership ratings have gone down so badly over recent years."

In another post, Katsis said he wondered why Cumberbatch--a Marvel movie superstar--would take on the voiceover role.

"Could he be that hard up for cash that he would agree to bad rap another artist that harshly?" Katsis said. "Clearly he would have read the outline or script before he took the gig. Could he actually be as big an asshole as the people on The Simpsons writing team? and the FOX team? Apparently so. Maybe he should speak up and tell his side of this. Does he even have enough balls to do that?"

The Simpsons was recently renewed for Seasons 33 and 34.