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| The Simpsons |
Homer, the star of the American satirical cartoon, works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and is regularly carrying around (and subsequently dropping) luminous day-glo green metals. The plant is poorly maintained and the inept cartoon character regularly falls asleep on the job, an image that evidently doesn’t mix well with the pictures of workers fighting damage at the Fukushima reactors.
Following elections at the weekend that gave the German Green party control of a state, broadcaster ProSieben says it is serious about searching for content that may be associated with what is happening abroad.
“With everything going on in Japan, we’re not going to air anything that touches on nuclear problems,” Stella Rodgers, a spokeswoman for ProSieben said. She said the broadcaster hasn’t cancelled any episodes, but has its eye out for content using humor that seems questionable under the circumstances.
The move underlines to outsiders on how high feelings do run on the subject of nuclear power. In Germany, the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl was a defining moment for the Greens in the 80s, and the current problems in Japan have delivered another boost to the party.
Up to 250,000 Germans demonstrated against nuclear energy nationwide last weekend and regional elections on Sunday toppled the CDU in Baden-Wuerttemberg after decades in power.
The Greens and their allies in the SPD are believed to have won enough votes in the state which would give them enough for a narrow majority in the legislature to take control of the state.
It’s hardly an environment where you can get a good laugh out of plutonium paperweights, three-eyed fish and cracked cooling towers glued together with bubble gum—all elements in the nuclear humor on The Simpsons.
While Germans have taken a prominent role in anti-nuclear sentiment in Europe, reflected by the recent order by the government to close seven nuclear plants for precautionary safety inspection, they aren’t alone.
Austrian broadcaster ORF said on Monday that it has removed some Simpsons episodes.
“Out of a respectful sensibility, the Simpsons episodes are currently being screened and in some cases removed from our program,” Andrea Bogad-Radatz, head of film and series at ORF, said Monday.
“Considering the atomic catastrophe in Japan it would be inappropriate to show episodes on the topic,” she said.
ORF pulled two episodes, one in which people die of radiation poisoning, and another that pokes fun at nuclear meltdown.
Sources: http://blogs.wsj.com
