The Simpsons EP Blasts Bogus Reports About Marge's Death In Season Finale: 'Misleading Stories Go Viral'

The reports of Marge Simpson's death are greatly exaggerated, according to The Simpsons executive producer Matt Selman.

Confused? Let's rewind to the show's Season 36 finale, which flashed forward to a hypothetical future in which Bart and Lisa drift apart as adults because they stopped watching The Itchy & Scratchy Show together as children. In the episode, which aired on May 18, Homer also becomes a widower following Marge's death.

The Simpsons have done multiple flash-forward episodes over the years, including one in which Lisa becomes the first female POTUS, but none of them are actually canon with the show; the events of these "what if?" episodes have never had any bearing on the overall story. They've always been treated like "Treehouse of Horror" installments, and longtime fans should be aware of that.

That's essentially what Selman says in a statement to our sister publication Variety: "The Simpsons doesn't even have canon. Obviously since the The Simpsons' future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they're all different every time. Marge will probably never be dead ever again. The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago."

Selman also has some harsh words for any websites that ran with speculation about Marge's alleged demise. "Here's my take: Websites need traffic, and headlines equal traffic," he adds. "And then you can explain that the headline was misleading at the very end of the article. Every single media outlet that ran this story knew that in no way was Marge dead. They all knew it, but they ran the headline anyway."

Ultimately, Selman is choosing to look at the kerfuffle as a good thing, adding that the public's interest "speaks to the fact that people care about Marge."

To be fair, The Simpsons has permanently killed off several recurring characters throughout the years — Maude Flanders and Edna Krabappel, to name just a few — but those deaths occurred in regular episodes set in the present day.

And how's this for irony: During Marge's funeral, you can see a gravestone in the background of beloved bartender Moe Szyslak sticking his head in an oven. So, what, no outrage over whether Moe is also dead? Come on, internet. Do better.