Even ‘Simpsons’ Writers Are Confused As to Why Animators Gave a Nude Mr. Burns’ the Ken Doll Treatment
A lot of Simpsons fans collect animation cels from the show’s production, despite the fact that Bart Simpson himself once warned us that it feels pretty terrible to spend $350 on a painting of of a singular tiny arm.
While most cels look as one would expect from the show, apparently some contain bonus, anatomically-confounding nudity. As one Simpsons fan recently shared on social media, a cel from “Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part Two” contains an eyeful of Springfield’s oldest billionaire.
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In the broadcast, a hungover Smithers dreams that Mr. Burns is unharmed, and having a steamy shower — a parody of a scene from Dallas, the show that also inspired the “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” whodunnit cliffhanger gimmick with its “Who Shot J.R.?” arc.
But while the episode held back on revealing the Full Monty Burns, the cel, bizarrely, depicted the character totally naked from head-to-toe, with a Ken Doll-like void in the genital area.
Even Simpsons writer Bill Oakley, who co-wrote the episode in question, seemed confused about the artwork, replying to the original post and questioning why the animators would “bother to draw so much of the frame that did not actually appear in the shot.”
The source of the image is a listing from when the cel was put up for auction, and it describes how the cel contains a “big difference” from what we all saw in the show. It also noted that Burns’ “naughty bits” are “not exposed.”
The auction listing goes on to explain that the cel came with a certificate of authenticity, seemingly ruling out the possibility that it was created by an amateur artist with an erotic fixation on Mr. Burns. Plus, it’s not the only cel from this episode featuring previously unseen Burns nudity; in 2018, a cel from the same scene was auctioned off, and it featured Burns’ whole butt, which didn’t make it onto the air.
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Which is surprising considering that the show certainly hasn't shied away from showing bare posteriors in the past. Heck, they even introduced the world to the fictional smut rag Gigantic Asses.
The odd nature of the genital-less cel has attracted the attention of Simpsons fans in the past, leading some to point out that the show did occasionally feature R-rated content in the margins that was ultimately cropped out of the final edit, such as in the artwork for Homer and Marge’s nude escapade in the episode “Natural Born Kissers.”
It’s also possible that the “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” animators were simply inspired by Marge Simpson’s past attempt to paint the old man in the buff (and make fun of his genitalia).
