‘The Simpsons’ Makes History With First Deaf Voice Actor and Use of American Sign Language (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comMichael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeWhen “The Simpsons” creative team decided to use American Sign Language in this Sunday’s episode, there was one hitch: The show’s animated characters have only four fingers.“That was a little tricky, especially because the one thing we’re translating is Shakespeare,” says writer Loni Steele Sosthand. “But I think we pulled it off.”Sosthand, who joined “The Simpsons” in 2020, is the writer behind the show’s April 10 installment, “The Sound of Bleeding Gums.” The episode is not only notable for featuring the first-ever use of ASL on “The Simpsons,” but it also includes the show’s first-ever deaf voice actors.
The story centers on Lisa Simpson, who discovers that her favorite musician and mentor, the late saxophonist Bleeding Gums Murphy, had a son who was born deaf.
She meets the young man, Monk, who wants to get a cochlear implant — but Lisa gets a little too over-exuberant in trying to help him.
The episode is inspired by Sosthand’s family. “I’m mixed race; my father’s Black and jazz was big in our house,” Sosthand says. “We grew up in the suburbs, and it was a way for my dad to bring in that aspect of our culture.
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