Fans of The Simpsons have come up with a theory about a scene in the two-part episode 'Who Shot Mr Burns' that has recently become a point of contention among eagle-eyed viewers - but one of the show's writers has offered up an answer.
In the double episode, Homer was one of several Springfield residents to have sworn murderous vengeance on Mr Burns, but it turned out he was beaten by his baby daughter Maggie.
Yes, implausible as it seemed (something which was often joked about by the writers in later scripts), Mr Burns' gun fell into the baby Simpson's hands as the power plant owner tried to wrestle a lollipop from her, having joked about taking candy from a baby. And then... BANG.
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It turned out that not only is the saying is not only inaccurate - taking candy from a baby proved more difficult than Mr Burns was expecting - it's also pretty dangerous, especially when said baby is Maggie Simpson.
However, a viral post has suggested that in the scenes that follow, depicting the townspeople stood around the wounded billionaire, Homer is present, in disguise as Krusty the Clown.
Why? Well, let's take a look.
A post on Reddit reads: "In the 'Who Shot Mr. Burns?' episode of The Simpsons, Mr. Burns is discovered shortly after being shot and is surrounded by a number of characters, including Krusty the Clown.
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"However, on close inspection it is absolutely irrefutable that it isn't Krusty at all, but Homer Simpson in Krusty makeup (compare to when Homer dressed up as Krusty while in clown college).
"Homer was actively on his way to kill Mr Burns while disguised as Krusty, echoing when he saw Sideshow Bob rob the Kwik-E-Mart while disguised as Krusty, but was beaten by mere seconds when Maggie shot him."
A fan shared it on Twitter, posting: "How the f*** did I never spot this?!"
Now writer Bill Oakley, who has also worked on the likes of Futurama, has given a bit of context to the viral post.
Posting a picture of the original script, he tweeted: "OK, I found this on my computer. Haven't looked at this file in 25 years. (Please note I do NOT think all these appeared in the final show.) But you will see that we specifically ask that Homer should NOT appear in the Final Scene, and we do not ask that he be disguised as Krusty."
He went on to say that although he couldn't be certain, one man would be - he called on Jeff Lynch, former animator and director for The Simpsons, to have the final say in the matter.
So if it wasn't scripted, maybe there's a germ of truth in the theory, yet to be confirmed...? We're waiting, Jeff.
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/20th Century FoxTopics: TV and Film, the simpsons