On Tuesday night, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s histrionic display in which she ripped up a copy of President Trump’s State of the Union speech live on television for all to see, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has never been known to mince words, issued one tweet that targeted Pelosi with one memorable image; the character of Lisa Simpson from the iconic show “The Simpsons,” about to rip up a piece of paper and sobbing.
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) February 5, 2020
Newsweek described the episode in which the image of Lisa Simpson appears, 1991’s “Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington,” like this:
Lisa enters an essay-writing contest about America and wins a trip for the family to Washington, D.C., to attend the finals of the competition. There, Lisa witnesses a congressman accepting a bribe in the House of Representatives and, disheartened by this distinctly undemocratic act, changes her final essay to scold the government. The congressman is arrested as a result of Lisa’s essay.
Yeardley Smith, the actress who is the voice of Lisa Simpson, expressed her outrage by tweeting politely, “I might jus add f*** you @MikePompeo for co-opting my character to troll @Speaker Pelosi. Be a leader and fight you (sic) own fight. Oh, wait I forgot, you’re a follower.”
That’s pretty good! I might just add f*ck you @mikepompeo for co-opting my character to troll @SpeakerPelosi . Be a leader and fight you own fight! Oh, wait I forgot, you’re a follower. https://t.co/EzCtEZmKzJ
— Yeardley Smith (@YeardleySmith) February 5, 2020
Former Simpsons writer and showrunner Bill Oakley tweeted his displeasure with Pompeo using the image, writing, “Mr. Secretary of State please do not ever ever ever use Simpsons material in your twitter or watch the show or refer to it in any way.” He added, “To be clear this episode aired before @Joshstrangehill and I even worked on the show and was written by the genius George Meyer and I say this to Mr. Pompeo as a FAN of this episode, not someone who worked on it. If he starts using Steamed Hams, then this will become personal.”
Mr. Secretary of State please do not ever ever ever use Simpsons material in your twitter or watch the show or refer to it in any way pic.twitter.com/hY0EKfEbua
— BILL OAKLEY (@thatbilloakley) February 5, 2020
(To be clear this episode aired before @Joshstrangehill and I even worked on the show and was written by the genius George Meyer and I say this to Mr. Pomepo as a FAN of this episode, not someone who worked on it. If he starts using Steamed Hams, then this will become personal.)
— BILL OAKLEY (@thatbilloakley) February 5, 2020
Allie Goertz, co-host of the Simpsons podcast Round Springfield, echoed on Twitter, “”It’s amazing that even horrible people love The Simpsons. But to be clear, Lisa would hate Mike Pompeo more than the fictional politicians she’s crying over in this episode.”
It’s amazing that even horrible people love The Simpsons.
But to be clear, Lisa would hate Mike Pompeo more than the fictional politicians she’s crying over in this episode. https://t.co/seCvTu6k8L
— Allie Goertz (@AllieGoertz) February 5, 2020
Last October, Pelosi appeared with House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, stating, “We see the actions of this president being an assault on the Constitution.” Schiff added, “We are deeply concerned about Secretary Pompeo’s effort now to potentially interfere with witnesses … many of whom are mentioned in the whistleblower complaint.”
In response, President Trump issued a tweet saying, “Adam Schiff should only be so lucky to have the brains, honor and strength of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. For a lowlife like Schiff, who completely fabricated my words and read them to Congress as though they were said by me, to demean a First in Class at West Point, is SAD!”
Adam Schiff should only be so lucky to have the brains, honor and strength of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. For a lowlife like Schiff, who completely fabricated my words and read them to Congress as though they were said by me, to demean a First in Class at West Point, is SAD!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2019
In July 2017, Simpson creator Matt Groening appeared on a Comic-Con panel, where he led hundreds of people chanting “Lock him up” in reference to President Trump. As Huffington Post reported. The Guardian reported in 2004:
Groening is from the “liberal side” of the political spectrum. As, it seems, are most of the cast and crew. “We’re all going to vote for the same presidential candidate. But we take shots at both sides. We really haven’t slammed George Bush as much as we have slammed Clinton. Maybe we feel sort of guilty,” says Carolyn Omine, the only female writer on the show.