Blair Made Simpsons Drop Poodle Act

[kskiska]

LONDON : British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to appear in the hit US cartoon The Simpsons only after its makers dropped plans to have him star alongside a dog he feared would portray him as " America 's poodle", a British newspaper said on Tuesday.

"There were a couple of references that had to be changed," the Daily Mirror quoted Simpsons producer Al Jean as saying.

"In the original script, there was a scene where Mr Blair presents the Simpsons with a corgi dog as they get off the plane.

"This had to be cut because Downing Street felt there was a risk that he would be seen as America 's poodle," Jean said.

Blair was labelled by the world's media as US President George W Bush's "poodle" over his staunch backing of the US-led war on Iraq . The corgi dog is much loved by Britain 's Queen Elizabeth II.

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/397391.cms

[xray s]

1. I don't understand

How do you "appear" in a cartoon? I don't think you need approval to depict a public figure in a cartoon. Maybe he lent his voice to the production.

Anyway...look for Matt Groening to get his pound of flesh from Mr Blair in some other deliciously subtle, subversive way.

[tritsofme]

6. They used his voice in the show.

nt

[Eric J in MN]

7. exactly, he recorded lines for the show

If they had found Blair's objections too severe, they could have used an imitator instead. Apparently, they didn't mind make a small change.

[0rganism]

2. Odd. What does Blair have against corgies?

If the Simpsons guys wanted to imply he's a poodle, they would have staged him with a poodle. He's getting awfully touchy lately. Reminds me of some chihuahas I've seen...

[PartyPooper]

3. That's a bitch!

What a canine catastrophe that UK PM lap dog is!

:evilgrin:

[pinto]

4. Simpsons to do remake: Corgy and Bess?

bad joke....

[baby_bear]

11. No, it was perfect!

LOL!!

I wish I had a comeback!!

s_m

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Poor Tony Blair

If you lay down with dogs, Tony, you'll get up with fleas.

It's a shame, though. Tony was a pretty decent PM until his sense of loyalty blinded him to Shrub's ethical flea infestation.

I sincerely hope that Mr Blair repents of his errors and helps repair the damage he's contributed to. But I think he'll be bounced to the back bench before that can happen.

--bkl
Tony! Toni! Toné!

[pinto]

8. his party's going to be back benched, y'think? n/t

[tritsofme]

10. By who?

The Tories are in shambles and the Liberal Democrats are far from a position to govern. Labour has huge leads in Parliament, and I don't think Blair will drag them down.

[PartyPooper]

9. Every dog has its day...but, this isn't Tony's!

[Whoa_Nelly]

12. Was Blair paid for this?

n/t

[rabz_blairite]

13. Blair as a poodle

Steven bell the cartoonist for the Manchester guardian depicts Tony Blair as a poodle in most of his cartoons, but the poodle jokes an cartoons are now relegated to the opinion pages of the only leftist broadsheet paper in the UK, I think Tony's objection to the poodle thing in the Simpson’s is that of late the criticism has gone down, well of the poodle variety, but because of the Hutton inquiry coming up and the fact that he was dropped in the sh*t by Bremer about Iraq the heat is slowly being turn up and the fact is the Simpson’s is probably the UK favorite cartoon, it'll look like its at the front of the agenda again.
Clearly this only helps the Conservatives, as they struggle to get back into the light, though the Conservatives would be stronger allies of the Iraq War if they were in power, but we wouldn’t be seen any issues in the UK media depicting a Tory leader as a poodle.