The mystery surrounding the identity of Mr. Burns' shooter was a major talking point in the 1990s. Released over two episodes, the season six finale and season seven premiere, there were certainly no shortage of suspects.
Just about everybody in Springfield was out to get Mr Burns after he erected a structure to block out the sun, permanently plunging the town into darkness and driving up energy prices in the process.
Of course, as is often the case in these situations, it turned out to be the person you least suspect. It was revealed that Maggie Simpson was in fact that shooter, but was there a clue left in the episode that something else was going on?
A theory, which originally popped up on Reddit, has been shared on Twitter, suggesting Homer may have had his own wicked intentions on that day.
Looking at the moment it has been discovered that Mr. Burns was shot, a number of characters are gathered around. Homer doesn't seem to be present, that is until you take a closer look at who we thought was Krusty the Klown.
In the "Who Shot Mr Burns" episode of "The Simpsons" Mr Burns is discovered shortly after being shot and is surrounded by a number of characters, including Krusty the Klown.
However, on close inspection it is absolutely irrefutable that it isn't Krusty at all, but Homer Simpson in Krusty makeup (compare to when Homer dressed up as Krusty while in clown college).
Homer was actively on his way to kill Mr Burns while disguised as Krusty, echoing when he saw Sideshow Bob rob the Kwik-E-Mart while disguised as Krusty, but was beaten by mere seconds when Maggie shot him.
That certainly seems to be Homer.
You can watch the moment in question below.
Then you have this throwaway line from much later in the show, where Homer said it was actually him that shot Mr Burns and not Maggie.
Probably the worst retcon in Simpsons history. pic.twitter.com/UORrI6Mgfv
— Tanooki Joe (@TanookiKuribo) April 17, 2020
Could it have been Homer all along?
Probably not, but what do we have to do at the moment apart from dissect seemingly random moments from a 25-year old episode of a cartoon?
However, Simpsons writer Bill Oakley said he doesn't believe this was the case, saying on Twitter:
I can certainly imagine a scenario where Homer was mistakenly drawn in the background by one of the overseas studios and we called a re-take to have it fixed and they just kind of re-jiggered the existing art to make Homer into Krusty.
Time to power up the old Disney+ and finally crack this case.
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