Julian Assange: a cartoon figure for The Simpsons
IT seems WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is intent on a television career. The Fox television network has announced his appearance as a guest character on the 500th episode of animated TV comedy The Simpsons. News of the upcoming cameo came just a week after Russia Today, a Kremlin-funded English-language channel, revealed that it had won exclusive first broadcast rights for a chatshow starring Assange.
Since he is under house arrest at Ellingham Hall in Norfolk, England, Assange recorded his Simpsons lines remotely. His Russia Today show, too, will be recorded at Ellingham Hall, where he awaits a UK supreme court hearing on his extradition to Sweden. In the 10-part chatshow, called The World Tomorrow, Assange will host “a series of in-depth conversations with key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries from around the world”.
Assange’s fictional abode in The Simpsons sounds less pleasant than the grounds of Ellingham Hall. Fox revealed that the animated version of Assange will be living in a rugged and isolated area. That’s where he’ll meet the dysfunctional Simpson family who, having decided to leave their home in the fictional town of Springfield, find themselves living next door to the notorious whistleblower.
How Assange will get along with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and their pets remains to be seen – the 500th episode will be aired on 19 February. But perhaps Homer will share some of his insights with the whistleblower, like “TV respects me. It laughs with me, not at me!” In any case, since Assange and his fans have always been keen on portraying him as some kind of super hero taking on villainous forces, the cartoonification of the WikiLeaks founder seems entirely appropriate.
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Posted: 31st, January 2012 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
