WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange to Guest on Fox's THE SIMPSONS, 2/19

As first reported on EWonline, WikiLeaks' founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange has recorded a guest voiceover that will appear during the 500th episode of Fox's long-running animated series THE SIMPSONS. The episode is scheduled to air on February 19th. 

According to the report, the founder of the controversial web site had expressed an interest in guest starring on the show, prompting the 'Simpson' creator Matt Groening to initiate the offer. “...we asked our casting director Bonnie Pietila — who had been able to unearth Thomas Pynchon and got Tony Blair to do the show — to find Mr. Assange. And she did”, explained Simpson executive producer Al Jean. Assange recorded his voiceover last summer at an undisclosed location. He is currently under house arrest in Britain.

In the 500th episode, Homer and Marge Simpson will find out that neighbors of Springfield are holding secretive town meetings in an attempt to oust them from their community as punishment for all the troubles they have caused over the years. Once they learn the news, explains Jean, “the Simpsons go off the grid to this very rugged place where they meet [Assange], who’s sort of their new Flanders. … He invites them over for a home movie and it’s an Afghan wedding being bombed.”

Assange is scheduled to appear before Britain's Supreme Court tomorrow to appeal extradition to Sweden in connection with sex crimes allegations. “He’s a controversial figure, and there’s a good reason he’s controversial,” says Jean. “There was discussion internally whether or not to have him on the show, but ultimately we went ahead and did it.” Adds Jean “there’s nothing we did that has anything to do with the legal situation that he’s in…We wanted to make sure it was satirical, and he was willing to do that.”