Simpsons Creator Matt Groening Explains Why Smithers Being Black Was A Mistake + New Covercraft Episode Sneak Peek [PICS]

Ahead of this week's new Simpsons episode - guest starring Nebraska/McGruber/former SNL star Will Forte, alongside Van Halen/Chickenfoot singer and tequila impresario Sammy Hagar - series creator Matt Groening has revealed that the origins of Mr Smithers, where he first appeared seemingly as an African American character, were a mistake. "He was never black; it was an accident," Groening told TMZ in an interview.  

"That was a mistake; an animation mistake," Groening continues. "He was always yellow, then they painted him wrong once. That's all. Here's the thing, at that time we didn't have enough money to do retakes, so when there were glitches and mistakes, it stayed that way. That's the story."

He also explained that The Simpsons characters were yellow so they'd stand out from "Everything else on TV" and that they only had four fingers because of "pencil mileage". As he points out, it was a time-saving device, as "over the years an extra finger, that's a lot of pencil mileage". 

After last week's trip to the desert and Blazing Guy (er, Burning Man) with Willem Dafoe, The Simpsons once more take on a musical tilt this Sunday. According to the series site, Homer will go through a mid-life crisis when Moe's shuts down, so Homer and some of the other Springfield dads form a cover band, with Apu becoming something of a star. Additionally, Sideshow Mel's family will be introduced to the show. 

Following this season's strong lead of guest stars (Dafoe, Jane Fonda, Nick Offerman, Sarah Silverman, Jeff Ross, the Futurama and Family Guy casts) the red rocket Hagar will play himself, while Forte will guest as King Toot, Moe's next door neighbor, continuing his run as TV and film's cameo guy/guest star du jour of the past five years.