Fans of the long-running hit cartoon, The Simpsons, have speculated about the voice actor for character “Leon Kompowsky,” who first appeared in the show’s 36th episode, “Stark Raving Dad,” which premiered in September of 1999. Though originally credited to “John Jay Smith,” recently show creator Matt Groenig confirmed that Michael Jackson actually served as the main voice for the character. In the episode, Leon is a Michael Jackson impersonator who has come to believe he is actaully Michael Jackson, and Homer Simpson meets Leon in New Bedlam Insane Asylum.
As cited by Groenig in Australia’s The Weekly, “We really did have Michael Jackson. … He has a voice that sounds like someone doing a Michael Jackson bit.” Groenig also notes that The King Of Pop first called him out of the blue, and he hung up on him, not initially believing that Jackson was actually interested in the show. He also noted that Jackson explained that he “loved Bart [Simpson] and wanted to be on the show.”
However, the show was forced to use the name “John Jay Smith” in the credits, as MJ was contractually obligated by his record company not to publicly participate. Groenig also notes that while Jackson did do the voice acting for Leon Kompowsky, all the songs sung by Leon were voiced by a Michael Jackson impersonator named Kipp Lennon. The show creator added, “When it came time to do the songs, he had a sound-a-like singer and he stood there and watched the guy—and he was so nervous—who had to sound like Michael Jackson.”
You can watch part of Michael Jackson’s voice acting on The Simpsons—from the 1991 episode “Stark Raving Dad”—below.
[Video: letsbepandas]