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After 27 years of faithful service to America’s favorite four-fingered family, two-time Emmy winning composer Alf Clausen has been fired from The Simpsons. Variety first broke the news, reporting that Clausen received a called from “Simpsons” producer Richard Sakai informing him that the show would be using “a different kind of music” from now on.
Reached for comment through email, producers issued the following statement: “We tremendously value Alf Clausen’s contributions to ‘The Simpsons’ and he will continue to have an ongoing role in the show. 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.”
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Though the famous theme song is composed by Danny Elfman, Clausen provided all other scoring for the series, utilizing a 35-piece orchestra every week to do so (at the insistence of “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening). For his efforts, Clausen has received two Emmy awards and been nominated a whopping 21 nominations. It is believed he is the most nominated musician in Emmy history, with 30 in total. Since his tenure began in 1990, Clausen has scored 560 episodes of the beloved series. The final episode he scored was the season 28 finale, which aired in May. “The Simpsons” returns to Fox in October.
No reason was given for Clausen’s abrupt dismissal, but it is speculated that it may due to budgetary concerns. With musicians and recording studios, it is estimated that costs run in the millions every year.
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