A former writer and showrunner for The Simpsons has criticised Mike Pompeo after the secretary of state referenced the show on Twitter.
Bill Oakley, who served as executive producer of the show’s seventh and eighth seasons with partner Josh Weinstein, reacted after Pompeo used an image of Lisa Simpson in an apparent jab at Nancy Pelosi.
The speaker of the House of Representatives was filmed tearing a printed copy of Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night after the address.
The image used by Pompeo shows Lisa tearfully shredding a piece of paper, in what looked like a reference to the viral moment.
Oakley shared a screenshot of Pompeo’s tweet and wrote: “Mr Secretary of State please do not ever ever ever use Simpsons material in your Twitter or watch the show or refer to it in any way.”
He added: “(To be clear this episode aired before [Josh Weinstein] and I even worked on the show and was written by the genius George Meyer and I say this to Mr Pompeo as a FAN of this episode, not someone who worked on it.
“If he starts using Steamed Hams [a reference to the episode 22 Short Films About Springfield, which Oakley co-wrote], then this will become personal.”
After the tense State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, Pelosi called Mr Trump’s address “a manifesto of mistruths”.
A person close to the Democratic speaker, who was unauthorised to speak publicly, told The Associated Press that the ripping was not planned.
Additional reporting by agencies
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