RUMOR: Nancy Cartwright gets Scientology joke blocked from The Simpsons

[SirLemming]

Remember: this is only a RUMOR. That's why this isn't a TZ News article.

And here is where we'll discuss it.

http://www.cultnews.com/index.php/2006/04/06/scientologist-cartoon-diva-cartwright-gets-her-way-at-the-simpsons/


Apparently Isaac Hayes isn’t the only Scientologist that has done voiceover for comedy cartoon characters that can’t take a joke and has no sense of humor when it comes to their controversial religion.
Nancy Cartwright, the voice for Bart Simpson on the TV show The Simpsons, seemingly suffers from the same malady as Hayes reports 7 Days. Perhaps inspired by the creators of South Park, who ridiculed Scientology so successfully, some of The Simpsons writers wanted to have a little fun too.
The proposed line to be spoken by Bart went something like this, “Mormonism? That’s the second freakiest religion in America!”
One guess who must be the first “freakiest”?
Cartwright certainly got the joke, but she didn’t like it, so the show dumped it according to insiders.
So even a purported allusion to Scientology got the axe at the Fox show.
“That’s ridiculous…Scripts change all the time as shows are prepared, and what goes into a show and what doesn’t go into a show is based on what’s funny, and that is it, her publicist.
Notice though that Cartwright’s spokesperson doesn’t flatly deny the report altogether.
Hollywood Scientologists and their publicists like to parse their language when responding to accusations that star power was somehow used to censor things within the entertainment industry. Like South Park the longer running cartoon show The Simpsons has at times made fun of religion, but Scientologists seem to be very thin skinned when it comes to their own “sacred cow.”
However, unlike Isaac Hayes, Nancy Cartwright isn’t threatening anyone at Fox with a walkout.
The 58-year-old voiceover queen earns a reported $360,000 per episode, which means she takes in $8 million per season.
And besides, unlike Hayes, it appears Cartwright the cartoon diva cowed the show over her “sacred cow.”

I don't know what to think. I'm not sure how knowledge of that line would've leaked, and it must be from an upcoming episode (have they ever dealt with Mormonism?), and it's pretty vague. The writer of the article treats it as an obvious conclusion that the joke referred to Scientology, but it's not really. Nancy Cartwright would have to be pretty friggin' sensitive to assume it was a shot at Scientology.

[MODnote: SHE'S 58?!?!]

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Darn Scientologists... Can't they take a joke? What makes them think they should be immune to parody and general stabs at their religion when no one else is?

[Jaime_Weinman]

I should point out that The Simpsons took numerous shots at Scientology in the "Joy of Sects" episode. I just don't see the cutting of one joke -- given that jokes get cut all the time and every episode is massively different from the initial script -- as being some kind of conspiracy.

[Ultra Mike]

I'm not sure how knowledge of that line would've leaked, and it must be from an upcoming episode (have they ever dealt with Mormonism?),

A few times actually. In "Treehouse Of Horror IX" Homer thought that Kang and Kodos were Mormons when they first showed up at the door. And then there was this exchange in "The Ziff Who Came To Dinner"

Lawyer: You sir are a moron!
Homer: A Morman? But I'm from Earth!


I should point out that The Simpsons took numerous shots at Scientology in the "Joy of Sects" episode. I just don't see the cutting of one joke -- given that jokes get cut all the time and every episode is massively different from the initial script -- as being some kind of conspiracy.

True, but not direct refrences (since it was the "Movementerians" that were cult and all). Scientologists only seem really angry when they are directly mentioned by something

But if that is true about Nancy Cartwright being a Scientologist too, then she would be just as big an ironicist as Issac Hayes for being mad about a Scientologist joke after all the times the Simpsons made fun of religion. Unless of course it's the Scientologists who are yet again screwing over jokes for everyone. Which would probably suck even more.

[Redi]

Isn't Scientology one big joke anyway? You would think they would have a better sense of humor.:sad:

[tb4000]

Though killing off Bart would be sacrilge.

[GrantM]

First South Park, now The Simpsons?....next thing you know we'll probably hear one of the Family Guy VAs getting ticked off over a Scientology joke

[JLApe]

[MODnote: SHE'S 58?!?!]She's 48, not 58.

Unlike the Issac Hayes incident (with the exception of the Shaft theme, I've absolutely no respect for him), I'm not inclined to believe everything that is written in the Rick Ross report. If he got Ms Cartwright's age wrong, it's a good chance he may not be right about the rest.

[kashpoing]

Personally i dont think it's true but I'm getting sick and tired of the scientologists getting mad about there "religion" being made fun of . I mean every other religion is made fun of on a regular basis , and there religion was created by a sci-fi writer how did they expect to dodge that bullet. On a side note , scientology even taken as fiction isnt that well written.

[Seiya]

i don't think this is true. because she would have probably threatened them to leave at leats. it's probably fake.

[Hades]

IF I was Fox, I'd tell Nancy to deal with it. She has no right to complain about her own thing being made fun of when she has made fun of everything else. What the heck is Scientology anyway? I have never understood how that can be called a religion.

[Mek]

It's so funny that people can make fun of anything and everything, yet when the spotlight falls onto something they hold dear, they suddenly become all defensive.

I really shouldn't be one to make fun of Scientology, considering some consider my religion to be 'freaky' (note: I'm a Christian), but it's people like Tom Cruise and Issac Hayes that make it easy to make fun of them.

[FinnMacCool]

I personally think the Church of Scientology's penchant for law suits, secrecy, and mandatory cash payments from members make them a rather shifty organization. However, to those who say Scientology is ridiculous, let me tell you about a religion that is really out there.

They've got a lot of crazy beliefs, including the insane notion that the first two human beings ate a piece of fruit that a supernatural entity called Jehovah forbid them to eat. This pissed off Jehovah, and he got revenge by making the world harder and more painful than it had been, and, when these first humans died, transporting their consciousnesses to an alternate dimension where they're tortured until the end of time by a group of superhuman beings called Demons. Jehovah has inflicted this same punishment on all of these first humans' descendents (effectively the entire human species), and only allows people to avoid an eternity of torment if they pledge unending and absolute loyalty to him and his half-human son, Jesus, a carpenter who died in Israel roughly two thousand years ago. This loyalty is demonstrated by having a religious leader transform some bread and wine into the flesh and blood of this Jesus, which the followers then eat in a cannibalistic ritual.

I don't know, looking at that makes Xenu and thetans seem about par for the course in terms of weird religious beliefs.

[SirLemming]

Wow, you're THE FIRST PERSON EVER to make that point.

And to quote South Park: "Yeah. It's way, way more retarded."

[FinnMacCool]

Wow, you're THE FIRST PERSON EVER to make that point.

And to quote South Park: "Yeah. It's way, way more retarded."


I'm guessing that's sarcasm, so let me ask: what makes the ghosts of aliens less believable than angels and demons?

[Crow]

Darn Scientologists... Can't they take a joke? What makes them think they should be immune to parody and general stabs at their religion when no one else is?

It's probably the fact that religion (for the most part) is still a taboo subject when it comes to comedy, no matter which religion that is. It's an 'out' for scientology.

Nobody can confirm or deny that during the show's run, there was some sort of scientology joke that was nipped in the bud because of the cast's beliefs.

The same thing can be said about the American Godzilla movie, half the Simpsons fraternity made that movie!

[SirLemming]

I'm guessing that's sarcasm, so let me ask: what makes the ghosts of aliens less believable than angels and demons? See, that's just the thing: I'm not going to discuss this whole issue again because we've already discussed it plenty of times before.

I don't think any theory about the origin of the universe will ever be intellectually provable, but some of them really do make more sense than others. (And for the record, I don't think most Christians believe that communion bread & wine actually become Jesus' body and blood; that's a relatively rare belief.)


More importantly, I don't think anyone would care about the whole "Xenu" origin story if not for Scientology's really messed up ideas in practice. I mean, you have to pay to be a part of it. And no, it is NOT the same thing as giving offerings in church. Offerings are not necessary for salvation and their intended purpose is clear and logical: to help the church with its expenses. There's misappropriation and all that, but this is, y'know, real-world stuff.

[FinnMacCool]

Oh, I totally agree in thinking the Church of Scientology is pretty darn shifty, if not outright unethical, with many of its practices, and the over-sensitivity of many of its members can get quite annoying and often hypocritical. I just don't like it when criticisms of Scientology go from their practices to stating/implying that they aren't a real religion because of the unusual nature of their beliefs. Critiquing religious beliefs is fine (I've gotten into more than a few debates with Christian fundamentalists), but it's the implication that gods and angels are less out-there than humanoid aliens that I find rather close-minded. After all, scientists have found some evidence on Mars that it used to have at least some very primitive life-form; no scientific evidence has ever been found of paranormal beings. Scientology: 1; Religious Mainstream: 0 (just to cover my ass, I am being half-facetious here; I do think that Scientology is less likely than something like Christianity, not because of its beliefs, but because I find the odds of L. Ron Hubbard discovering the secrets of the universe all on his own where no one before had ever gotten close to be far too convenient).

P.S. The communion wafer is supposed to literally become the body of Christ in the Catholic Church, which is the largest Christian denomination.

[Space Kitty]

P.S. The communion wafer is supposed to literally become the body of Christ in the Catholic Church, which is the largest Christian denomination.

Uh, no. Christ himself used it as a symbolic gesture. It is not literal.



I think that the idea that Scientology is fake stems from the fact that LRH was a science-fiction writer, the tenets of his "religion" are fictitious, and he made a bet that he could start his own religion.

[FinnMacCool]

Uh, no. Christ himself used it as a symbolic gesture. It is not literal.


That is a common interpretation, yes, but I do know that Catholics believe that, during communion, transubstantiation occurs, where the bread and wine do in fact become the body and blood of Jesus. While few Protestant denominations hold this tenent, the sheer size of the Catholic Church ensures that a good percentage of Christians do actually believe (or at least claim to believe) that they are eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus during communion.


I think that the idea that Scientology is fake stems from the fact that LRH was a science-fiction writer, the tenets of his "religion" are fictitious, and he made a bet that he could start his own religion.

Yeah, Hubbard's background lowers his religious street cred further.

[SirLemming]

Well, I could say something about Catholicism here, but I won't.

I have no problem calling Scientology a religion. I mean, just because it's probably a load of bull... Well, pretty much every religion except one has to be a load of bull, right? This is true of at least a good chunk of 'em, I'm pretty sure. Even if they "all get you to Heaven" or something, they can't all be true. More or less. There's no point in trying to defend such a vague and qualifiable term.

[Antiyonder]

First South Park, now The Simpsons?....next thing you know we'll probably hear one of the Family Guy VAs getting ticked off over a Scientology joke

Or as Stewie puts it:
"Even I found that to be in bad taste." Forgot the episode it came from though.

[Wanted]

She's 48, not 58.Yeah... I was confused, also.

"“Mormonism? That’s the second freakiest religion in America!”
One guess who must be the first “freakiest”?" I didn't get that.

[Dantheman]

I've heard the Simpsons writers don't write Scientology jokes so as to step on Ms. Cartwright's toes,but the only deliberate Scientology bash I can think of was modeling the cult leader's appearance in "The Joy of Sects" episode after L. Ron Hubbard.

[Agent S7]

I seriously doubt that this is true. This looks like a rumor outright.

What are the odds of Nancy Cartright, 58--er--48 years old being a Scientologist around the same time Isaac Hayes quit? This is highly doubtful in my mind.

On the other topic, I find Scientology to be, from my research, a revolting and vile religon that uses total lies to mislead innocent people into becoming one of them. They bully the media. Why? Probably because the mad, late Hubbard told them to. They hate psychologists.

What else? Well, from my research, they believe that aliens came to Earth on planes astounding similar from ones in the 30s-40s. They tell people to "disconnect" with everyone who is making them doubt their faith. Which means, BTW, that they inform them that they are disconnecting and never talk to them again. Once again, from research it's torn families apart.

Add that with all of the dangerous balogna you get from Hubbard's acid trips and you have a dangerous cult.

Before you call me a bigot, let me say this: I am a hardcore liberal and I love diversity in religon. In fact, I wish more Christians like me would read about other religons. But I loathe religons that cause the amount of pain and harm that Scientology does.

End rant,
~s7

[havokpryde]

Before you call me a bigot, let me say this: I am a hardcore liberal and I love diversity in religon. In fact, I wish more Christians like me would read about other religons. But I loathe religons that cause the amount of pain and harm that Scientology does.

End rant,
~s7 And here is an interesting question, if a person chooses Scientology, what right have we to stop them. Should we stop someone who goes to a bondage club voluntarily? Like I say about our adorable campus cult, we should do something, but we can't.

Anything more concrete like in the Issac Hayes case. I mean in that episode we has Tom Cruise threatening to sue the British channel, so it wasn't too farfetched.

[Robert McSantos]

what makes the ghosts of aliens less believable than angels and demons?

It's the exact reason stated on South Park. The ghosts of aliens are less believable than angels and demons because they are way, way more retarded. :)

[Batgirl Beyond]

First, on-topic: I highly doubt this is true, considering the source, and the fact that the alleged joke in question is quite ambiguous.

Slightly off-topic: can someone briefly explain to me the beliefs of Mormons? (I'll completely understand if this is not the place for it.)

[Alex Toon]

Slightly off-topic: can someone briefly explain to me the beliefs of Mormons? (I'll completely understand if this is not the place for it.)
Well, from what I know and learned, Mormons are mainly centered on the beliefs and actions of Jeshua/Jesus, while other Christian groups have God as their authority.
The whole synonym w/polygamy came from the idea of "be fertile and multiply",thus multiple wives=multiple kids. Not sure if I'm right or not,though.
But about Scientology's credibility, I think if people want to avoid their religion being satired, become desit/Buddhist. At least they're not that organized.
BTW,how coincidental that we get into a religious discussion on Easter.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Haven't the Simpsons already done a number of Scientology jokes? In fact, as I recall one older episode (season 8 or so?) was devoted entirely to poking fun at the Scientology following.

That said, I think there has been at attempt in the media and society to portray all Scientologists as oversensitive nutcases, which isn't necessarily entirely the case for all of them. For better or for worse, though, Tom Cruise hasn't helped symbolize Scientology as anything but a negative.

Personally I think almost all religions now are more profit-oriented than anything else, especially in Western society. But that is a debate for another thread.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

It's the exact reason stated on South Park. The ghosts of aliens are less believable than angels and demons because they are way, way more retarded. :)

The funny thing is that from a scientific standpoint it's more believable for alien lifeforms to exist than beings with powers that defy scientific law. Don't know about ghosts of aliens, though.

However, when you start going into things like an evil overlord of the universe, then you fall right back into the angels and demons believability realm.


I do think that Scientology is less likely than something like Christianity, not because of its beliefs, but because I find the odds of L. Ron Hubbard discovering the secrets of the universe all on his own where no one before had ever gotten close to be far too convenient).


Hubbard has been heard quoting that religion was big business and that he thought he could make a lot of money if he could create one. But again, it's all second hand quotes...

One thing about the Bible, is that since it was written by a lot of unknown/vaguely known people, they aren't subject to the scrutiny that an identifiable writer would be. People know who L. Ron Hubbard was, his obsessions, his ticks, etc. With the Bible, we're just taking everyone's word for it that it's all legit.

If what Hubbard said was true, though, he was right. Look at Christianity. It is so commercialized. If Mel's Passion of the Christ was just about some no-namer who got tortured for 2 and a half hours, who would watch it? Would it make 200+ million? I doubt it. Yet they managed to get people of various ages and varying tolerances for violence go watch it in the name of "religious education."

Look at Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown? Who the hell cares about this hack? But because his book supposedly opened the door on some "secret" the Church has hidden from the public, everyone's interested. (Never mind this "shocking" theory has already been out there for hundreds of years anyway) The Christians are curious, the atheists smirk, and everyone else is amused, but interested. Movie opens in May, betcha it makes a 500 billion bucks.

[Agent S7]

Hubbard has been heard quoting that religion was big business and that he thought he could make a lot of money if he could create one. But again, it's all second hand quotes...

One thing about the Bible, is that since it was written by a lot of unknown/vaguely known people, they aren't subject to the scrutiny that an identifiable writer would be. People know who L. Ron Hubbard was, his obsessions, his ticks, etc. With the Bible, we're just taking everyone's word for it that it's all legit.

If what Hubbard said was true, though, he was right. Look at Christianity. It is so commercialized. If Mel's Passion of the Christ was just about some no-namer who got tortured for 2 and a half hours, who would watch it? Would it make 200+ million? I doubt it. Yet they managed to get people of various ages and varying tolerances for violence go watch it in the name of "religious education."

Look at Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown? Who the hell cares about this hack? But because his book supposedly opened the door on some "secret" the Church has hidden from the public, everyone's interested. (Never mind this "shocking" theory has already been out there for hundreds of years anyway) The Christians are curious, the atheists smirk, and everyone else is amused, but interested. Movie opens in May, betcha it makes a 500 billion bucks.

Agreed. The one thing that bothers me is that religon has become so commercial. Look at Christmas, Easter. Of course, that's not as big of a deal as those idiots on TV in the morning constantly spouting out stupid ideas and asking you to buy their CDs.

Religon has become all about money. If people believe in something, anything, than there's a way to make cash off of it. And then there are those who use it for political power. Which I'm not going to get in to, as that would cause the mods to beat me over the head with the giant Spatula of Darkness. (I fear it so.)

Still, religons these days have degraded so far from original or better intent. Humanity's dark urge to find scapegoats is causing chaos all over the world. Look at the Muslim cartoon crisis. The bigotry against homosexuals. The hatred of America. All results of simple peoples' desperate need for someone, anyone to blame.

Religon should be about love and should bind people together. Not about hate and isolation.

~s7

[Steve Carras]

Remember: this is only a RUMOR. That's why this isn't a TZ News article.

And here is where we'll discuss it.

http://www.cultnews.com/index.php/2006/04/06/scientologist-cartoon-diva-cartwright-gets-her-way-at-the-simpsons/


I don't know what to think. I'm not sure how knowledge of that line would've leaked, and it must be from an upcoming episode (have they ever dealt with Mormonism?), and it's pretty vague. The writer of the article treats it as an obvious conclusion that the joke referred to Scientology, but it's not really. Nancy Cartwright would have to be pretty friggin' sensitive to assume it was a shot at Scientology.

[MODnote: SHE'S 58?!?!]

Yeah, I thought I was the only one who noticed..off by about ten years..born in the same eyar her mentor Daws Butler teamed yup with Hanna and Barbera, circa 1957..