Simpsons producers say 'fired' composer Alf Clausen will have "ongoing role in the show"
"We remain committed to the finest in music for The Simpsons," producers said in a statement
Longtime show composer Alf Clausen may have confirmed he was dropped from The Simpsons earlier this week, but producers have now released a statement promising he will "continue to have an ongoing role" in the TV show.
The two-time Emmy award-winning composer for The Simpsons spent 27 years scoring the long-running animation. But earlier this week Variety reported that Clausen received a call from Simpsons producer Richard Sakai who told him that the company was seeking a “different kind of music”, and that his services were no longer required.
Clausen shared the news on Twitter.
But in a statement, the team behind the Fox comedy indicated that he will still be working on the show in some capacity.
“We tremendously value Alf Clausen’s contributions to The Simpsons and he will continue to have an ongoing role in the show,” the statement said.
“We remain committed to the finest in music for The Simpsons, absolutely including orchestral. This is the part where we would make a joke but neither Alf’s work nor the music of The Simpsons is treated as anything but seriously by us.”
Clausen has scored more than 560 episodes after joining the team in the 1990-91 season, accumulating 21 Emmy nominations, and five Annie awards (the Oscars of animation) along the way.
He conducted a 35-piece orchestra for each episode. Clausen tweeted on Thursday that the orchestra members had also been “let go” in response to a question posed by the American Federation of Musicians.
While the statement says the future of the show will "absolutely" include orchestral music, it is not clear whether this means the full orchestra will be retained.
