The Simpsons Makes Untimely Precious Fat Jokes

In another example of just how unclever The Simpsons has become, tonight’s episode featured jokes about the size Gaborey Sidibe’s character in Precious. The episode “Love Is a Many Strangled Thing” deals with how wrong it is that Homer chokes Bart, which may have been discussed in a previous episode (or maybe it just seems 10 years overdue).

When Homer’s therapist finds out that he strangles Bart, he has Kareem Abdul-Jabbar strangle Homer to teach him what it feels like to be attacked by someone bigger than him. This makes Homer afraid of Bart, and he has a dream in which he imagines his son being an abusive parent.

In addition to a joke about Joe Jackson beating Michael Jackson, we see Bart/Mary throw a TV at Homer/Precious, and he randomly boards a boat after passing a sign that says, “WEIGHT LIMIT: ONE PRECIOUS.” Then Bart/Mary emerges from the water and says “I don’t see many more movie roles for a girl like you. Not unless George Lucas needs another Death Star.”

Fat jokes, mainly about Homer’s weight, are a The Simpsons staple, but this sequence was just mean and unfunny. Precious came out two years ago, and mentioning Howard Stern’s comments takes it from a famous abusive parent reference to a pointless joke about Gabourey Sidibe’s weight.