Welcome to the family, man! “The Simpsons” team took to Twitter on Thursday morning to give the classic cartoon’s initial reaction to the announcement Disney had bought their home — 21st Century Fox — for $52.4 billion in stock.
An illustration drawn by creator Matt Groening was tweeted by executive producer Matt Selman, writer James L. Brooks and more of “The Simpsons” family, showing Mickey Mouse getting choked by Homer Simpson as Bart Simpson looks on in glee.
The massive deal, which was announced Thursday, will bring not just “The Simpsons,” but many Fox properties over to the Disney empire, namely its film and TV studios and much of its non-broadcast television business, including regional sports networks and cable networks such as FX, FXX and Nat Geo.
The X-Men franchise, “Avatar,” “Deadpool,” “Fantastic Four” and many more will enter the Mouse House if the buyout meets regulatory approval in the next 12 to 18 months.
Meanwhile, the Murdoch-run Fox will retain the Fox Broadcasting network and 28 owned-and-operated U.S. TV stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network. These will be formed into a “new FOX” company that will be spun off to its shareholders.
Oh, fun fact: “The Simpsons” actually predicted Disney would buy Fox back in 1998. Weird, right?
You can see the long-running cartoon series’ tweet below.
Simpsons say “hi” to Mickey with respect (he’s a lot older than we are) pic.twitter.com/bD6wTZebas
— james l. brooks (@canyonjim) December 14, 2017