A former composer for The Simpsons has filed a lawsuit against the show over the way he was dismissed, suggesting he was discriminated against because of his age and a perceived disability.
Back in 2017, it was reported that Alf Clauslen had been “fired” by the long-running show after working on it as a composer for 27 years.
He was replaced by Bleeding Fingers Music, a music production company co-owned by Hans Zimmer – who composed the score for The Simpsons Movie – as well as his business partner Steve Kofsky and Extreme Music.
Two years later, it’s now been revealed that Alf is suing the show, filing a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday for age discrimination, wrongful termination and retaliation.
In his lawsuit, he claims he was told that he was being replaced because the series was “taking the music in a different direction”. No other details were included.
HuffPost UK has contacted 20th Century Fox for comment.
Alf joined The Simpsons during its second series in 1990, and remained with the show until 2017.
During his tenure as composer and conductor on The Simpsons, he was responsible for some of the show’s most memorable musical moments.
As well as writing the musical numbers Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart?, We Do (The Stonecutters’ Songs), See My Vest and We Put The Spring In Springfield, he also composed the music in the Mary Poppins-inspired episode Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious and A Streetcar Named Marge.
It was recently revealed that The Simpsons would soon be made available to stream for the first time, on the upcoming platform Disney Plus, following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.