After Apu, ‘The Simpsons’ Quietly Revived a Banned-Episode Character 35 Years Later
The Simpsons has brought back Leon Kompowsky in a brief visual cameo, 35 years after the character first appeared. The cameo is in the Season 38 Halloween special, “Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening”, and matters because Leon’s original episode is no longer available on Disney+.
Leon first appeared in the 1991 episode “Stark Raving Dad”, voiced by Michael Jackson. The episode was removed from circulation in 2019 after renewed allegations against Jackson and the release of the documentary Leaving Neverland. Leon has no new dialogue or storyline in the special, and his appearance does not signal that the original episode will return to streaming.
In short
- Leon Kompowsky makes a brief cameo in the Halloween special.
- His 1991 debut episode was removed from circulation in 2019.
- The cameo does not mean the episode is returning to Disney+.