Duff McKagan has stated that The Simpsons named their iconic Duff Beer after him.
The Guns N’Roses’ bassist first made this claim in his 2011 autobiography, ‘It’s So Easy and Other Lies’.
In an extract taken from the book, McKagan wrote that the: “production company working on a new animated series” contacted him in 1988/89 to ask if they could use the name ‘Duff’ for a band of beer in the show”, in reference to his reputation as being a “big drinker”.
While he laughed off the request and said it was “no problem”, Duff McKagan began to notice when Duff became a key part of the show, with merchandise of the fictional beer brand showing up worldwide.
However, a number of Simpsons writers have denied McKagan’s claims, insisting that they are untrue.
“Here’s the deal” – McKagan
In a fresh interview, Duff McKagan has once again reiterated his stance that Duff Beer was named after him, and that the Simpsons should own up to that alleged fact.
“Here’s the deal,” he said. “So I was Duff, the King of Beers. But this is 1988, 1989 and our management, I remember they called me and said some arthouse-like cartoon wants to use your name as the beer, like a college arthouse cartoon. There weren’t any adult cartoons at this point”.
McKagan continued: “I didn’t know about branding or anything like that, but that show took off. And then they started selling merch and stuff. I never went after him [creator Matt Groening], but I’m like, ‘Hey, motherf******,’ you know?”.
“So I think it’s very probably business savvy of them to say that’s not true. But if you just do your own math behind it, look at when they started off with the King of Beers, and I had my King of Beers belt I wore all the time”.
When asked if the cartoon comedy should own up to this, Duff McKagan declared: “They should. I’m not going to ask them for money”.
In another interview, Duff McKagan revealed that Guns N’Roses have new music in the works. More on this from Nova here.
Last month, Simpsons star Hank Azaria announced plans to form a Bruce Springsteen tribute band. More on this story here.
