WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is scheduled to make a guest appearance on The Simpsons.
The controversial figure – who voices himself – will apparently meet America’s favorite cartoon family after they move out of Springfield and into the countryside.
Fox spokesperson Antonia Coffman told The Guardian Assange’s “brief” role will be aired on the show’s 500th episode, which goes live on February 19.
Meanwhile, Al Jean, who produces The Simpsons, told Entertainment Weekly the show avoids delving into Assange’s delicate “legal situation,” and instead dishes out the usual biting satire associated with the long-running series.
Assange appears to be stepping up his media activities, as he will be a hosting a new TV series – “The World Tomorrow” – on English-language channel Russia Today. The show is slated to begin airing in mid-March, in ten weekly half-hour episodes. Initial licensing commitments will apparently cover over 600 million viewers across cable, satellite and terrestrial broadcast networks.
Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006. The website has published controversial material about extrajudicial killings in Kenya, toxic waste dumping in Côte d’Ivoire, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer, as well as classified documents pertaining to the Iraq and Afghan wars.
A European arrest warrant was issued for WikiLeaks founder in 2010, after Assange was accused of a sexual assault in Sweden, a charge he denies. Assange was subsequently arrested and conditionally freed on bail with a number of stipulations, including the wearing of an electronic tag and reporting to a police station on a daily basis.
Assange later appealed a February 2011 decision by English courts to extradite him to Sweden, claiming the allegations of wrongdoing were “without basis.” However, the High Court upheld the extradition decision and rejected all four grounds of appeal. Assange remains on conditional bail and continues to fight extradition.
