The Simpsons producer apologizes to fans for killing off long-running character… while defending the shocking death for being impactful

One of The Simpson’s core creative teams is offering a mixed response to upset fans after the series shockingly killed off one of its oldest characters on Sunday.

Tim Long, co-executive producer of the iconic animated comedy, apologized to traumatized fans Thursday while speaking to TMZ.

Long also defended the character cull, claiming it was always intended as an emotional blow to fans due to the rare deaths in The Simpsons.

The series had teased the death beforehand, but that didn’t put all fans at ease when it was announced that Larry, one of the longtime residents of Moe’s Tavern, had died.

First introduced in the premiere episode nearly 35 years ago, Larry the Barfly also turned out to be named Lawrence Dalrymple.

He was mostly a background character, and his drinking buddy, the perpetually guzzling, beer-bellied drunkard Barney Gumble, always outshone him.

Long told the publication that he was sorry that Simpsons fans were saddened by Larry’s death, as well as the generally somber tone of the episode as a whole.

But the producer was also encouraged that the show meant so much to his fans that they were able to have a strong emotional response.

He clarified that it was always the intention of The Simpsons creative team to move viewers with Larry’s death. Even though he was mainly a background character, death is extremely rare in the series, making even the loss of a minor character notable.

Long also poked fun at another classic cartoon, The Flintstones, by claiming that fans of the series – which aired from 1960 to 1966 – would have had no problem if one of its least popular characters, The Great Gazoo, was in the had bitten dust. . (It’s fitting that The Simpsons parodied the little green alien by introducing the similarly designed Ozmodiar in season eight.)

The producer said he was happy to see that fans could still have a strong emotional response to the show, which was created by Matt Groening and premiered in 1989.

However, he urged fans to keep things in perspective as The Simpsons hasn’t killed off any of the main characters, or even a popular side character.

After the episode aired, Long posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Good call [co-showrunner Matt Selman] to discover how Homer and his friends foresee the afterlife. Poignant and deeply strange!’

The creative team – who came under fire from oversensitive viewers last year for scenes in which Homer comically strangles his son Bart – might not have expected to upset many fans, as Selman wasn’t particularly subtle with hints about which character was doing it. would die. the episode airs.

A social media post urged fans to guess who the unfortunate character would be, but Larry was joined by three main characters – Homer, Marge and Bart – who would almost certainly never be killed off.

Larry the Barfly’s first appearance in the series was in the Christmas-themed debut episode Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire.

In the final episode – with the funny title Cremains Of The Day – viewers heard that he had died.

Larry was a member of the intoxicated ensemble that frequented Moe’s Tavern, and he was voiced by Spinal Tap star Harry Shearer, known for bringing to life a bevy of characters including Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, his assistant Smithers, Principal Skinner and Reverend Lovejoy, among many others. However, Larry rarely got the chance to open his mouth about the series.

Although Larry had been around for decades, he never played a prominent role in any episodes and almost nothing was known about the character’s backstory.

That changed with Sunday’s episode, when it was posthumously revealed that his name was Lawrence Dalrymple.

In Cremains Of The Day, Homer and his other drinking buddies explored Larry’s surprising history while realizing they barely knew him.

Simpsons fans reacted on social media with a mixture of surprise and mock shock to the news of the minor character’s death.

“Not Larry!” joked one fan who also posted a gif of Marge and the kids looking stunned.

“I just found out they’re killing Larry on The Simpsons tomorrow. I need a minute,” someone else joked.

Others joked about the late character’s lack of screen presence.

“Every time Larry’s not on screen everyone should be asking, ‘Where’s Larry?'” one fan wrote.

Another added: “I hope we find out something about Larry when we don’t see him anymore.”

But others found his life on the margins “really damn sad and tragic.”

One viewer joked about Larry’s cause of death: “Spoiler: autoerotic asphyxiation.”

Even the Simpsons account got in on the fun by posting an image of Homer and Larry eating “Angel Wings” at a sports bar in heaven.

Despite the publicity of the death, many fans also admitted that they did not even know Larry’s name.

Even as The Simpsons has axed some of its less popular characters, it has also brought back iconic faces in recent years, including the Albert Brooks-voiced Jacques, a French bowler who tried to score a strike with Marge.