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The Simpsons: the slot it filled on BBC2 has lost nearly 20% of its audience
The Simpsons: the slot it filled on BBC2 has lost nearly 20% of its audience

Simpsons say sorry for 'doh-plomatic' disaster

This article is more than 22 years old

Makers of the Simpsons today apologised to Rio de Janeiro for a recent episode that poked fun at the city after tourist officials threatened to sue.

The cult cartoon's executive producer, James Brooks, said sorry to the "lovely" people of the Brazilian city for the show that sparked what was quickly dubbed a "doh-plomatic incident".

He added: "If that doesn't settle the issue, Homer Simpson offers to take on the president of Brazil on Fox Celebrity Boxing."

Rio's tourist board said it was considering legal action over the episode in which the Simpson family - father Homer, mother Marge and children Bart, Lisa and Maggie - visit the city in search of an orphan who Lisa has sponsored.

In the Simpson's Rio, Bart was swallowed by a boa constrictor, the city's police were depicted as lazy and unhelpful, Brazilian men as bisexual, and rats and ferocious monkeys roamed the streets.

Homer was then kidnapped by an unlicensed taxi driver before he and Bart were robbed by children.

Tourism chiefs feared the cartoon, which was watched by 11 million Americans, could wreck their £12m bid to tempt more tourists from the US.

Brazil's president, Fernando Henrique Cardosa, claimed it "brought a distorted vision of Brazilian reality".

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