The Banned Simpsons Episode That Almost Got A Sequel

"The Simpsons" is not just one of the most influential series in history and a cultural phenomenon, but it's also possibly the greatest TV show of all time. Still, the animated sitcom is not without controversy. "The Simpsons" has been banned many times in many countries, whether it's the entire "Simpsons" movie being banned for an innocent color scheme or TV standards changing and banning the show from showing an animated butt.

Of course, there is another, rather infamous example of a "Simpsons" episode being banned. Most every long-running sitcom is eventually haunted by the problematic elements from its earlier episodes, and "The Simpsons" is no exception. Be that as it may, the "Simpsons" episode that was quietly removed from streaming was pulled for reasons that had nothing to do with its subject matter and everything to do with its guest star. Yes, I'm referring to season 3's "Stark Raving Dad," also known as the banned Michael Jackson episode.

In the episode, Homer meets a man at a mental institution who claims to be Michael Jackson (but is really a fellow named Leon Kompowsky) and later helps Bart give a birthday present to Lisa. After the 2019 HBO documentary "Leaving Neverland" brought the child molestation allegations against Jackson back into the public conversation, the writers and producers of "The Simpsons" made the decision to pull the episode from streaming on Disney+. Longtime creative Al Jean even went so far as to say the documentary convinced him that Jackson had deliberately used his appearance on "The Simpsons" to alter his public image for nefarious purposes.

Years before it got banned, however, "Stark Raving Dad" almost received a sequel episode — one that would have seen Leon return under the pretense of being yet another mega music star: Prince.

Jean, one of the original writers of "The Simpsons" and the co-showrunner during seasons 3 and 4, posted screengrabs on Twitter/X revealing pages from the unproduced screenplay for the "Stark Raving Dad" sequel episode. One of the pages describes Lisa winning tickets to a Prince contest while a spider slowly descends towards her. In another scene, Selma tells Prince she loves "Under the Cherry Moon" (Prince's 1986 feature directorial debut, which flopped hard both critically and financially upon its release), much to Prince's astonishment.

Notably, there's some debate as to who wrote this unrealized "Simpsons" script. Writer Mike Reiss has claimed a hodgepodge of freelance writers worked on it, with Conan O'Brien providing some rewrites. Elsewhere, "The Simpsons" veteran creative Bill Oakley has asserted that it was penned O'Brien exclusively.

Either way, the episode would have seen Kompowsky having another identity crisis, this time believing he was, of course, Prince (as was revealed on the DVD commentary track for "Stark Raving Dad"). Kompowsky was originally voiced by Jackson and Hank Azaria, with his singing provided by Kipp Lennon. Prince allegedly objected to the screenplay, though, asking for it to be rewritten