Street artist and activist Banksy storyboarded and directed the opening to last night’s Simpsons, and … wow. Fox actually let this run. The opening bit is decent enough, but wait until you get to the couch gag (at about the 0:35 mark), which consists of a brutal, unrelenting tour of the Banksy-imagined Asian sweatshop where frames of Simpsons animation are inked and merchandise is made, a horrifying gray cave filled with vats of toxic waste and human bones. Though a panda and a unicorn each make an appearance, there are no laughs to be had in this bleak tour.
Update, 4:37pm: The original video has been taken down from YouTube despite the fact that it was posted by Banksy himself. Some pretty irate comments on his YouTube page: “Sucks that they took the video down, considering Banksy DIRECTED the damn thing! Copyright lawyers need to research before blindly hitting the “report copyright infringement” button.” “Banksy and copyright, dear God… Sue the bastards! Who are they to take you away your very own piece of work? That’s against absolutely everything you’ve been fighting for.”
Update2, 10/12, 3:31pm ET: Fox has lifted the ban! The video is back on YouTube. (h/t Peter Kafka)
(via Wooster Collective)
