`Simpsons' Producer Rebuffs Plea For Televised Apology

RENTON

The producer of "The Simpsons" television show, Twentieth Television, has rebuffed 14-year-old Joshua Smith's requests to have Bart Simpson's character befriend a child with Tourette's syndrome on a future episode.

The Renton youth, who has the syndrome, characterized by involuntary verbal and physical movements, also wanted Bart to publicly apologize at the end of a future episode for what the youth believed was ridicule in a past episode of those afflicted with the condition.

Fox Broadcasting Co. executive producer Mike Reiss had sent a written apology after Smith originally complained about a Nov. 5 episode, where Bart mimicked the neurological disorder. Twentieth Television, a division of Fox Broadcasting, agreed to remove that segment of animation, an unprecedented move, Reiss said.

Anatole Klebanow, attorney for Twentieth Television, said the written apology and substituting the animation in the segment represented a good-faith effort to respond to the youth's concern.