Banksy and The Simpsons: Graffiti Artist Banksy Illustrates The Simpsons Opening

A still from last night's Simpsons title sequence, by Banksy, showing sweatshop laborers inking Simpsons animation gels.

The credits sequence of last night’s episode of The Simpsons was indeed outsourced—to UK-based street artist/prankster Banksy—but the content of that sequence suggested a much more disturbing brand of outsourcing.

For the first 35 seconds or so, the sequence looked very much like every other Simpsons opening: Homer at the plant, Bart at the chalkboard, etc., with a few subtle changes just to keep things interesting for the completists and the trainspotters (and, of course a few Banksy tags on the walls of Springfield, just to make clear whose work we were watching). Then, the tone and location shifted: to a nightmarish sweatshop, where slave laborers were seen toiling away at Simpsons animation gels, using kittens to stuff Bart Simpson dolls, whipping a beaten panda being used to transport Simpsons merch.

The sequence is reportedly a reaction to reports by the BBC that the show outsources a great deal of its animation to South Korea. Banksy, whose identity and face has long been cloaked in secrecy, was the subject of the contested (and excellent) 2010 documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop. Watch his Simpsons title sequence here!