Alf Clausen, who composed music for The Simpsons for 27 years, has filed a lawsuit against Fox, claiming that he was fired from the show in 2017 due to his “perceived disability and age”.
Simpsons producer Richard Sakai told Clausen at the time that the show was seeking a “different kind of music”, and that his services were no longer required, according to a report in Variety.
“This reason was pretextual and false,” the suit states. “Instead, Plaintiff’s unlawful termination was due to perceived disability and age.”
Clausen provided the score for more than 560 episodes of The Simpsons and conducted a 35-piece orchestra.
He was nominated for 23 Emmys for his work on The Simpsons and won twice.
After his dismissal, Clausen was replaced by Bleeding Fingers Music, a production company co-founded by Russell Emanuel, Hans Zimmer and Steve Kofsky.
The suit states that Clausen’s replacement “was substantially younger in age, who was not only paid less, but was not disabled.”
