# Harry Shearer Leaves The Simpsons **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2015, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017 "2015-05-14T11:09:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/1 "2015-05-14T11:09:58Z")
The voice of Mr Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, Otto and Seymour Skinner leaves the show after a contract dispute: > **[The Simpsons actor Harry Shearer to leave the show](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32733873)** > > Harry Shearer, who voices Ned Flanders and Mr Burns in The Simpsons, is to leave the show after more than 25 years following a dispute with producers. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/2 "2015-05-14T11:20:08Z")
Maybe. I suspect this is something that will be resolved and the current publicity about it is just manipulating public opinion to get a better contract. Remember many years ago when the Simpsons was rumored to be cancelled because the entire cast wanted more money? Yeah, it’s like that. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/3 "2015-05-14T11:24:25Z")
Wow. Okally-Dokally then. End of an era. Other than Phil Hartman’s tragic death, has there been any other major voice actors to leave the show? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/4 "2015-05-14T11:27:23Z")
Marcia Wallace died - did she do any voices other than Mrs. K? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/5 "2015-05-14T11:47:46Z")
Maggie Roswell, who voiced Maude Flanders, Mrs Lovejoy, and a few other characters, left after season 10, due to a pay dispute. She eventually returned (though with fewer characters as they’d killed Maude off), presumably because she and the producers came to an agreement on her pay. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/6 "2015-05-14T11:54:35Z")
I understand that people should get paid what they can, and that what someone is willing to pay you for something dictates what it’s worth. But per the interwebs, Harry makes $300,000 U.S. - _ **per episode** _, and is worth $65 million with an ‘M.’ Forgive me for not crying in my coffee over this. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/7 "2015-05-14T11:59:01Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > I understand that people should get paid what they can, and that what someone is willing to pay you for something dictates what it’s worth. > > But per the interwebs, Harry makes $300,000 U.S. - _ **per episode** _, and is worth $65 million with an ‘M.’ > > Forgive me for not crying in my coffee over this. I suspect he isn’t crying either. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/8 "2015-05-14T12:03:25Z")
Lunchlady Doris died too so they changed her name to Dora. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/9 "2015-05-14T12:11:30Z")
**Mr. Burns** : “_Bah, piffle ! Such a picayune amount was my allowance at Yale. Do not concern me with this chickenfeed…_.” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/10 "2015-05-14T12:29:28Z")
Did anyone actually read the article? It says that he’s not leaving because of money, but because he’s (apparently) not allowed to do other voice work and he wants to do more than just Simpsons I can’t (really) fault him for that ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/11 "2015-05-14T12:46:14Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Did anyone actually read the article? > > It says that he’s not leaving because of money, but because he’s (apparently) not allowed to do other voice work and he wants to do more than just Simpsons And that nicely illustrates the problem with OPs that have links and insufficiently informative info in them. Surely **[del]Great Debates[/del]****Café Society** deserves better. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/12 "2015-05-14T12:58:30Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Did anyone actually read the article? > > It says that he’s not leaving because of money, but because he’s (apparently) not allowed to do other voice work and he wants to do more than just Simpsons > > I can’t (really) fault him for that If you’re referring to me, sure I read the link. Perhaps I’m just jaundiced by actors and athletes and their dreaded working conditions. Whenever I read “it’s not about the money” I usually think “it’s all about the money.” (And when’s the last time one of these guys has said, “you know, the work is fine, but it’s about the money!”) Five 'll get you ten, that in three weeks you’ll hear that they offer him an extra $75k per episode and he’ll get over the extra work concern. But if not, good for him that he has enough cash to do what he wants to do and can forgo $8M per year on principle. ---
**Author:** ![TaoPilot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TaoPilot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaoPilot)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/13 "2015-05-14T13:13:45Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > If you’re referring to me, sure I read the link. > > Perhaps I’m just jaundiced by actors and athletes and their dreaded working conditions. Whenever I read “it’s not about the money” I usually think “it’s all about the money.” (And when’s the last time one of these guys has said, “you know, the work is fine, but it’s about the money!”) > > Five 'll get you ten, that in three weeks you’ll hear that they offer him an extra $75k per episode and he’ll get over the extra work concern. > > But if not, good for him that he has enough cash to do what he wants to do and can forgo $8M per year on principle. I agree with you, they’ll find a way to keep him. If any of them were going to leave on principle, they’d have done it at least 15 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/14 "2015-05-14T13:15:36Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > If you’re referring to me, sure I read the link. > > Perhaps I’m just jaundiced by actors and athletes and their dreaded working conditions. Whenever I read “it’s not about the money” I usually think “it’s all about the money.” (And when’s the last time one of these guys has said, “you know, the work is fine, but it’s about the money!”) > > Five 'll get you ten, that in three weeks you’ll hear that they offer him an extra $75k per episode and he’ll get over the extra work concern. > > But if not, good for him that he has enough cash to do what he wants to do and can forgo $8M per year on principle. No I wasn’t referring just to you since the thread in general had a knee-jerk reaction to “it’s about the money!”. Although to address your post, I still don’t think it’s about the money but that he’s probably just bored. He’s one of the best at what he does at what he does, but you can only do the same thing over and over and over again before you go crazy. It’s why Jordan played baseball, The Rock started acting, every rockstar tries to play sports and every athlete tries to be a rockstar. He’s been “excellent”-ing and only “excellent”-ing for damn near 30 years, he wants to say another catchphrase for once in his life ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/15 "2015-05-14T13:16:38Z")
> [@TaoPilot](#): > > I agree with you, they’ll find a way to keep him. If any of them were going to leave on principle, they’d have done it at least 15 years ago. Which just serves to illustrate my point. This is just everybody panicking over something that’s probably just not going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/16 "2015-05-14T13:38:42Z")
He just wants to spend more time practicing his bass and [getting out of the damn pod-thing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbi5Zegp55o). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/17 "2015-05-14T13:43:18Z")
Maybe now they can just cancel the silly thing and be done with it. The show ceased to matter decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/18 "2015-05-14T14:08:35Z")
(sob) Shut up, (sob) Flanders. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/19 "2015-05-14T14:11:49Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > Which just serves to illustrate my point. This is just everybody panicking over something that’s probably just not going to happen. Is the guy not in his 70’s? If he is worth $65m I can easily see him walking away for no other reason than he is in his 70’s and couldn’t be bothered anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017/20 "2015-05-14T14:14:24Z")
Here’s CNN Money on the story: ['Simpsons' Mr. Burns walking away from $14 million deal](http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/14/media/simpsons-harry-shearer/index.html) Of course anyone would want to make more money, but maybe he just likes the creative freedom of doing work in addition to what he does on _The Simpsons_. Shearer’s a multi-talented guy. Having that door closed to him would be frustrating. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-shearer-leaves-the-simpsons/720017.md?page=2)