Turkish TV channel fined for ‘The Simpsons’ blasphemy episode

A Turkish broadcaster has been fined nearly £20,000 after airing an episode of ‘The Simpsons’ that was deemed to mock religious beliefs.

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has now confirmed he got the name from Springfield, Oregon, a town of 60,000 people which is 100 miles south of Portland, the city where he grew up Photo: AP

By Justin Vela, Istanbul

3:59PM GMT 03 Dec 2012

Turkey’s Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK), the state broadcasting regulator, levied the fine on the cartoon’s Turkish broadcaster for airing an episode on September 20 that was found to be insulting to religion, according to local newspaper Hurriyet.

The episode in question was the Halloween special ‘Treehouse of Horrors XXII,’ that originally aired in the US in October last year. In one segment of the episode, titled “Dial D for Diddly”, the religiously-devout character Ned Flanders goes on a killing rampage after being given orders by what he thinks is the voice of God. Later in the episode, the Devil demands God bring him a cup of coffee. “Yes sir,” God responds, revealing it is actually the Devil that runs the world.

RTUK stated that the episode shows “one of the characters is abusing another one’s religious beliefs to make him commit murders.

via Turkish TV channel fined for ‘The Simpsons’ blasphemy episode – Telegraph.