The Simpsons writer Bill Oakley debunks a popular fan theory involving Homer Simpson and Krusty the Clown. The theory revolves around the 1995 Who Shot Mr. Burns? episodes, which turned fans into amateur detectives for the summer. Clues were intentionally placed throughout the first episode to point to Maggie Simpson, who was the one who "unintentionally" shot Mr. Burns after he stole her lollipop. However, Homer was going to be the one to pull the trigger until he was beat to the punch.

A Reddit and viral Twitter post has one fan of The Simpsons claiming that the Krusty the Clown seen in the first episode of the two-part storyline is actually Homer Simpson in disguise. After Mr. Burns is shot, he is surrounded by a bunch of Springfield residents, including Krusty. However, the theory claims that this isn't really the famous Krusty that everybody knows and sort of loves. Instead, they believe that it's Homer based on the episode where he's in clown college. So, is this really Homer in Krusty makeup after getting inspired by Sideshow Bob to murder Burns?

Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein wrote the Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part One episode of The Simpsons. Oakley caught wind of the Homer and Krusty theory floating around on social media and has brought some clarity to the situation. He does not believe that it was Homer in disguise due the hair situation, noting that when Homer we in clown college, he kept the same hair. In the Mr. Burns scene, the clown has Krusty's usual hairstyle. Oakley went on and provided more information. He had this to say.

"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."

When The Simpsons fans weren't satisfied, Bill Oakley went into the archives and found the original script for the episode in question. "OK I found this on my computer. Haven't looked at this file in 25 years. (Please note I do NOT think all these appeared in the final show)," says the writer. "But you will see that we specifically ask that Homer should NOT appear in the Final Scene, and we do not ask that he be disguised as Krusty."

Bill Oakley then brought animator and director Jeff Lynch into the equation, but he has yet to respond. For now, it looks like Krusty the Clown is the one in part one of Who Shot Mr. Burns?, not Homer Simpson in disguise. With that being said, the clown does look a lot like Homer, which means that Oakley's international animation snafu explanation might be the correct answer, which would technically mean that everybody is a little bit in the right. You can check out Bill Oakley's Twitter response to the theory below.