The Simpsons has declined in quality over the years. That much is an objective fact, known by anyone who has seen the show. Simultaneously, a phenomenon commonly known as ‘Jerkass Homer’ has arisen, in which the show’s central character has transformed from an incompetent buffoon who mostly shows himself to have a good heart, into a... ‘Jerkass’. There are many theories as to when ‘Jerkass Homer’ first reared his head, and of course it was a slow and inconsistent process, but we’re going to take the first-ever full-on ‘Jerkass Homer’ moment to be in episode three of season three.
However, the full shift in personality came when Mike Scully took over as showrunner from season nine. We’ve ranked the ten worst ‘Jerkass Homer’ moments from that point onwards below.
When He Ran A Day Care Centre
Towards the end of Mike Scully’s time as showrunner, Homer ends up with a knee injury that leaves him stuck sitting down all the time. This seems like something he’d really enjoy, but we’ll let it slide. To pass the time, he starts a day-care center in the Simpson home to quell his boredom, much to the dismay of the further neglected Bart and Lisa. He claims that he’ll take better care of Bart and Lisa eventually, but we don’t believe him.
When He Thought He Killed An Alligator
‘Kill The Alligator And Run’ is a very interesting Simpsons episode with a variety of cameos, including Kid Rock himself. After a nervous breakdown, Homer and his family end up in Florida for Spring Break, where Homer runs over a famous alligator.
He actually hadn’t killed the alligator, but instead of trying to get help or admit to what he did, he just speeds off and tries to cover his own back.
When He Split The Town In Half
Springfield, a tiny town that doesn’t seem to exist in a real place, have attracted The Who to play a gig at their ridiculously large stadium that isn’t there most of the time. Surely residents should do make sure that still goes ahead? Not jerkass Homer. After finding out that New and Old Springfield have different area codes, he split the town in half with a trash-made Berlin Wall, and forced The Who to play on it.
When He Pretended To Murder Agnes Skinner
Long after the Mike Scully years of The Simpsons, jerkass Homer was still lurking around, only this time, he had the full strength of The Simpsons’ desperation for new stories behind him.
One of those stories led to Homer and Bart pretending that Agnes (who was in on it) had been stabbed to death in the kitchen, just to get revenge on Skinner.
When He Polluted The Lake
The Simpsons Movie was a rare moment of excellence taken from a time in Simpsons history that certainly isn’t considered to be its best. After finding out that Lake Springfield is on pollution tipping-point, Homer decides to dumb his silo of ‘pig-crap’ in the lake, which directly leads to the placement of a huge dome over the town, as well as the apparent death of Doctor Nick.
When He Married His Vegas Wife
Homer’s intention in ‘Viva Ned Flanders’ was to give Ned the good night out that he had never had. The only problem was that the already married pair ended up getting hitched to two ‘Vegas Wives’.
They got away with it for an incredibly long time, until Ginger and Amber found Ned and Homer many years later.
When He Ruined Springfield’s Trash Collection System
One of the episodes most associated with jerkass Homer is ‘Trash Of The Titans’. It came early in the Mike Scully years, but epitomizes Homer’s needlessly awful actions and lack of comeuppance. After abusing the trash collectors, Homer runs for Commissioner and ends up storing excess garbage in an abandoned mineshaft. He is fired eventually, but his life pretty much carries on as if nothing ever happened.
When He Framed Marge For Drink-Driving
Homer and Marge have a particularly turbulent marriage, even for an on-screen couple. However, the fact that she is able to forgive Homer so often is mind-boggling, especially after he framed her for drink-driving incident to save himself, and left her (unconscious- she could have been dead!) in the car.
When He Abandoned Abe In Hospital
One of Homer’s most truly awful moments came when his father was on his death bed in desperate need for a kidney transplant, and Homer ran out of the window.
And then he did it again. When Abe finally got his kidney, it was taken by Doctor Hibbert while Homer was unconscious.
When He Killed Maude
Undoubtably, the worst thing Homer Simpson ever did was have a direct impact on the death of Maud Flanders. His called for a barrage of T-shirt cannons to be fired at him, before bending over and allowing them to knock Maude Flanders off of the edge of the stadium. Fake death happens a lot in The Simpsons, but this moment stuck in canon forever without Homer ever getting his comeuppance.