Recent Simpsons episode sparked controversy amongst Judas Priest fans after a scripting error lead to the iconic rockers misclassified as ‘Death Metal’.
Rob Halford & co. made a cameo appearance performing their 1980 single ‘Breaking The Law’ when trying to lure a fugitive Homer Simpson and his family from their hideout at the Springfield Swedish Embassy after Homer downloaded too many pirate movies.
The line that caused this uproar from Priest’s loyal fans came from Springfield police chief: “There’s only one surefire way to get fugitives out of a foreign building. Blasting death metal!”
Despite the band themselves not seeming to give a toss about this genre confusion, it ignited rage amongst fans and some fierce tweets.
Metal Insider tweeted: “Judas Priest were called “death metal” on The Simpsons, which is like calling The Simpsons a documentary.”
Followed by: “While it’d be ridiculous to suggest that Opeth, Amon Amarth or Entombed would be on the show in place of Priest, it might have been a good idea to not call a 43 year old song that gets played on classic rock ‘death metal.'”
Stereogum then joined in with: “I don’t care if you want to have fun at metal’s expense but if you brazenly mix up black metal and death metal – and the essence of the joke hinges on getting that reference right – well, that’s just lazy writing and it deserves to be called out and mocked relentlessly”.
It’s safe to say Matt Groening won’t be making the same mistake again. Apologies were made in the opening credits of the very next episode. The famous chalk-board scene featuring Bart scrawling his detention lines this time read: “JUDAS PRIEST IS NOT “DEATH METAL”.
Hit play below to see this metal mix up for yourself.