Vice President Kamala Harris
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The Simpsons panel at San Diego Comic-Con saved a final surprise for last, as the event ended with a resurfaced video message from Vice President Kamala Harris.
After introducing the final clip as coming from a “super fan,” Matt Groening — who created the animated Fox series that is soon to launch its 36th season — set up footage of a laughing Harris delivering a well-known line from a previous “Treehouse of Horror” episode. The clip was recorded years ago by a group of University of Chicago students who were tasked with getting an elected official to recite the Simpsons quote.
“We must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom,” Harris said in the clip. It led to big cheers from the crowd, who appeared to assume that the moment was filmed for the panel, given that no context was given about the clip.
The quote is from season eight’s “Treehouse of Horror VII” that aired Oct. 27, 1996, just ahead of that year’s presidential election between then-President Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. The episode’s segment features aliens Kang and Kodos impersonating the two candidates, with the Clinton imposter delivering the muddled message during a public event.
Social media users had recently been having fun with the fact that Lisa Simpson became the first female president during the 2000 episode “Bart to the Future,” an accomplishment that Harris hopes to achieve with her own presidential campaign following President Joe Biden stepping down as the presumed Democratic nominee on Sunday. Footage from that episode of The Simpsons has since gone viral, particularly a clip showing Lisa wearing a purple suit while complaining about budget issues thanks to President Donald Trump.
The episode aired well before Trump, who is likely to face Harris during this November’s election, was elected as the nation’s actual commander in chief in 2016.
During the panel, Groening was joined by Matt Selman, Jessica Conrad, Rob LaZebnik and Tim Bailey, alongside moderator and longtime fan Kevin Smith.
Taking a seat on the panel midway through the event was Seth Green, who discussed the work that his company Stoopid Buddy Stoodios has been doing on a stop-motion character called “Denim,” which is a parody of the Marvel Comics standout Venom.
As seen in a clip shared from the upcoming season’s “Treehouse of Horror XXXV,” Denim takes over Homer’s body when he is wearing the sinister pair of pants.
July 27, 2 p.m. Updated with information about the Harris video being filmed years ago.
Laura Davis is an entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to Broadway, she offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
