This Is the Only ‘Simpsons’ Character to Be Canonically Deported
The Simpsons, at least in its “Golden Age,” has never been known for its timely comedy. You might be able to date old episodes by their celebrity guest stars, but generally, they stuck to evergreen topics.
It’s probably for the best for the show’s greater legacy that we never had to see Homer weigh in on Jersey Shore. But that doesn’t mean that The Simpsons is a wholly unpolitical show. In an episode that aired in 1996 but feels plenty relevant now, Springfield tackled the issue of illegal immigration. The episode in question ended with the deportation of a beloved character — the only one to suffer such a fate.
The episode, the 23rd of the seventh season, is titled Much Apu About Nothing, giving you a strong hint that Apu isn’t the immigrant in question, since that would be the opposite of suspense. Apu does confess to being in the country illegally, staying after his educational visa expired. Yet, by the end of the episode, he passes a citizenship test and remains safely in Springfield.
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Knowing the subtext of the phrase “illegal immigrant” in modern America, there are a couple characters you’d probably guess after Apu. Bumblebee Man, for example. Of course, that same assumption means, comedically, he can’t be the one to go.
Eventually, the proposition for deporting illegal immigrants passes, but only one man finds himself sent back to where he came from in the final moments of the episode: apparently undocumented Scotsman, Groundskeeper Willie.
