Guests at The Simpsons panel at San Diego Comic-Con were surprised today with a video message from United States Vice President Kamala Harris delivering a classic line from an older 'Treehouse of Horror' episode.
As reported by THR, The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening teased a final clip from a "super fan" that ended up being Harris.
"We must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom," Harris said with a laugh.
That line is from an episode of The Simpsons from October 27, 1996, called 'Treehouse of Horror VII,' which aired a bit before the U.S. presidential election between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. However, the clip of Harris itself is not new - per THR, the clip was recorded years ago by a group of college students who were instructed to get an elected official to recite the line.
This is of note because this panel is just months before the US. presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and Trump was actually part of a Simpsons joke well before he ran for office.
In The Simpsons' episode from 2000 called 'Bart to the Future,' Lisa became the U.S.' first female president who had to deal with budget issues thanks to previous president Donald Trump.
Elsewhere in the panel, The Simpsons discussed how it was partnering with Robot Chicken's Stoopid Buddy to parody Venom in this year's take on 'Treehouse of Horror,' which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. In the parody, however, he is known as Denim.
There will also be a "second scary trilogy" of The Simpsons episodes that will focus on stories inspired by Ray Bradbury.
For more from SDCC, check out our roundup of all the biggest stories and the new Jakks Pacific The Simpsons figures and collectibles from the show.
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Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
This article was amended post-publication to make clear that the clip of the vice president was a few years old.
