Homer Simpson Will No Longer Strangle Bart: 'Times Have Changed'

After 35 seasons, the writers of The Simpsons apparently decided to retire its longest-running gag: Homer strangling Bart.

During a recent episode, one of Homer's neighbors complimented his firm handshakes to which he responded, “See, Marge, strangling the boy paid off .. just kidding, I don’t do that anymore. Times have changed.”

Various outlets have since reported the show will no longer feature the strangulation gag.

Homer is right: times have changed.

Outrage is now empowerment. Journalists have long pressured the sitcom to do away with the scenes, pretending they minimize "child abuse."

Some guy at The Guardian said it's "about time" the show addressed the gag. He called it "just too near the knuckle."

"I was Bart’s age when it first started airing," the evidently emotional author bemoaned.

Consider that snowflakes like that guy contribute to the state of American culture.

The change is mostly a formality.

According to TMZ, the show has only sparingly used the strangulation gag since Season 22 after Homer visited a therapist who lectured him about physical harm.

Homer last choked Bart two seasons ago.

Still, there was no need to officially do away with the signature interaction. It's pandering. It is yet another form of submission to those who want to police American comedy.

Trying to appease the unappeasible is never a good reason.

Yet in a similar attempt, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon has not appeared on the show since 2017 after voiceover actor Hank Azaria accused the character, as an Indian immigrant proprietor, of representing a racial stereotype.

“I was speaking at my son’s school, I was talking to the Indian kids there because I wanted to get their input,” Azaria said. “A 17-year-old, he’s never even seen ‘The Simpsons’ but knows what Apu means. It’s practically a slur at this point. All he knows is that is how his people are thought of and represented to many people in this country.”

Just make the show funny again.