D’OH! PRINCE DROPPED CHANCE TO VISIT ‘SIMPSONS’: Singer pulled out at the last minute over script.
(May 7, 2007)

*Matt Groening, the creator of “The Simpsons,” says he was all set to produce an episode of his long running animated series with guest star Prince, who would’ve followed in the footsteps of such high-powered voice visitors as Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones.

But, His Royal Badness ended up pulling out of the Springfield gig at the last minute, Groening tells the New York Daily News.

"Prince wanted to do the show, so we wrote him a script,” Groening explained to columnists Rush & Malloy.” It didn't work out, because his chauffeur had written a script too, and Prince wanted to use that one."

Here are some other interesting anecdotes shared by Groening about “The Simpsons,” which will shoot its 400th and final episode next season.

• Groening recalls how Elizabeth Taylor once agreed to play little Maggie saying her first word, "Daddy." "We did 24 takes, but they were always too sexual. Finally Liz said, 'F— you,' and walked out."

• He fondly remembers the "Simpsons" episode where "we had a news crawl like [Fox News] across the bottom of the screen. It said things like … 'Brad Pitt plus Albert Einstein equals Dick Cheney,' 'Study: 92 percent of Democrats are gay' … We were forbidden ever to do it again. Fox said it would confuse viewers."

• Groening recalls how Elizabeth Taylor once agreed to play little Maggie saying her first word, "Daddy." "We did 24 takes, but they were always too sexual. Finally Liz said, 'F— you,' and walked out."

He fondly remembers the "Simpsons" episode where "we had a news crawl like [Fox News] across the bottom of the screen. It said things like … 'Brad Pitt plus Albert Einstein equals Dick Cheney,' 'Study: 92 percent of Democrats are gay' … We were forbidden ever to do it again. Fox said it would confuse viewers."