Kiwi comedian faces Morrissey's wrath after Simpsons' parody

UK singer Morrissey​'s manager has hit out at The Simpsons, claiming the show's parody of him is "racist".

But the manager failed to provide any examples of racism from the episode, which joked about the alt-rock singer's progression from anti-establishment singer to controversial Far-Right commentator.

Kiwi comedian Bret​ McKenzie​, from Flight of the Concords, and actor Benedict​ Cumberbatch​ worked on the new Simpsons episode, titled "Panic on the Streets of Springfield".

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The show's name plays on the song "Panic", from Morrisey's band The Smiths.

Cumberbatch voiced the character Quilloughby, a British musician and former lead singer of "the Snuffs".

Quilloughby hit the big time with tracks such as "Hamburger is Homicide" and, "How Late Is Then".

McKenzie worked as a songwriter for the episode.

In a post, he said the show came together last year – while he worked remotely from Wellington with Cumberbatch and others.

"I wrote some 80s pop songs with my friend Tim Long. Woke up at 3am in New Zealand to record the sultry crooning of Benedict Cumberbatch," he said.

Despite having eerily similar titles to famous Smiths' tracks such as "Meat is Murder" and "How Soon Is Now", the show's writer said it was based only somewhat on Morrissey.

Writer Tim Long said Quilloughby was not Morrissey, per se.

"And I'm sticking by that," he told Variety.

"Having said that, the character is definitely Morrissey-esque, with maybe a small dash of Robert Smith from the Cure, Ian Curtis from Joy Division, and a bunch of other people."

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The inspiration for the episode came from his own childhood, Mr Long, who is British, said.

"I grew up as a moody kid obsessed with catchy-yet-depressing indy music," he said.

"And like Marge, my parents wondered what the hell was wrong with me."

The episode follows Quilloughby and Lisa Simpson, revealing that the British singer is in fact her imaginary friend.

It turns out the real Quilloughby is a much older man, who eats meat and is overweight.

He shares anti-immigrant views as well.

After the episode aired on Monday in the US, Morrissey​'s manager Peter Katsis posted a statement hitting out at The Simpsons.

He said Morrissey had never been overweight, as shown, and was the victim of "racist" attacks and poor satire.

Morrissey remained "a serious vegan and strong supporter for animal rights", he said.

Mr Katsis also defended Morrissey's art and criticised the creativity of The Simpsons.

"Truly they are the only ones who have stopped creating, and have instead turned unapologetically hurtful and racist."

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The British singer has repeatedly had to defend himself from accusations of racism, after a series of controversial interviews and public statements targeting ethnicities and immigration.

In 2019, he voiced his support for an anti-Muslim political party.

In an interview with a fan, he said: "The word (racism) is meaningless now... Everyone ultimately prefers their own race ... does this make everyone racist?"

In a 2017 interview with German news site Spiegel Online, he reportedly said refugees moving to Germany made it "the rape capital of Europe".

He continued to deny saying that, despite the reporter releasing a tape of their interview.

His comments since leaving The Smiths have led many fans to drop their support for him and the band.