‘The Simpsons’ Finally Revealed Why Homer Never Gets Fired

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Homer Simpson being bad at his job

20th Century Fox / The Simpsons

It only took 12,733 days since The Simpsons premiered back on December 17, 1989, but the show runners have finally revealed why Homer Simpson never gets fired from his job at the nuclear power plant despite being a complete oaf.

There have been countless instances of Homer Simpson being bad at his job over the past 3+ decades. Homer is so bad at his job that for years that the opening credits of The Simpsons showed a glowing green rod, believed to be some sort of radioactive isotope, lands in his pants. But time after time, he comes back to work at the nuclear plant despite Mr. Burns being a shrewd businessman.

Why Has Home Simpson Never Been Fired From His Job At The Plant? ‘The Simpsons’ Finally Reveals The Answer

On Sunday’s Season 36, episode 4 titled ‘Shoddy Heat,’ the mystery of why Mr. Burns has never fired Homer Simpson was revealed. This was the 772nd episode of The Simpsons and they only just now revealed why he’s never been fired. That in and of itself is wild.

Executive Producer/Writer Al Jean teased the big reveal prior to Sunday’s episode:

The backstory is pretty simple… The episode (see it below) features a lengthy flashback to Abe Simpson (Homer’s father) as a private investigator looking into the disappearance of his partner, Billy O’Donnell.

Mr. Burns, the owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant tells Abe Simpsons that his partner Billy O’Donnell got a “one-way ticket to paradise” and in exchange for Abe’s silence, Mr. Burns offered a lifetime job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant for Abe’s son, Homer Simpson, no matter how incompetent Homer might be over the years.

‘Shoddy Heat‘ is available to stream on Hulu but The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean re-shared this post on X, formerly Twitter, where someone appears to have shared the entire episode. It’s kind of wild to see an executive producer share their content like this but I figured I’d share it here since they were sharing it there:

The big reveal comes at the 15:15 mark in the video above when Mr. Burns, who is already showing sings of male pattern baldness, tells Abe Simpson “let’s make a deal.”

Mr. Burns goes on to say “you forget about your ex-partner, and I’ll give your son a job when he grows up.” Abe Simpson rebuffs him saying “we don’t need your help” before the scene pans over to Homer Simpson who has gotten himself stuck inside the mouth of a taxidermy bear.

As the realization sets in for Abe Simpson that his son Homer isn’t the brightest kid in class, Mr. Burns adds “I will give that poor, pathetic knuckle-brain a job and never fire him no matter how often and how badly he messes up.” The scene then pans to Homer Simpson who has already gotten his head stuck in another inanimate object.

Abe Simpson acquiesces and shakes Mr. Burns’ hand, agreeing to stay silent about his missing partner in exchange for Homer Simpson’s lifelong employment at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. And there we have it, the big reveal from The Simpsons on how Homer has never been fired before.

Now that The Simpsons revealed that mystery, I’d love to see the show come back the week after the ‘Tree House Of Horror’ episode and swoop in with a contradictory episode set 10-15 years ago, not 30+, and add more layers to this onion…
Homer’s one-liner of the big reveal was great. “No matter how big of an idiot I am, I can never lose my job. I’m like a Supreme Court justice!” Shout out to Eric Todisco at the NYPost for putting this story out there first. I saw parts of the episode but it never occurred to me that others would want ot until I saw it in writing earlier.

Homer Simpson being bad at his job

20th Century Fox / The Simpsons

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