Simpsons cartoon 'is child porn'
Australian judge's ruling
An Australian has been convicted of possessing child pornography – after a cartoon featuring The Simpsons characters was found on his computer.Alan John McEwan had appealed against the decision, but a judge has ruled that even an animation should be considered child pornography.
His defence was that the fictional characters clearly departed from the human form.
But in a Sydney court, Judge Michael Adams decided that did not mean the characters could not be considered people.
‘The mere fact that the figure depicted departed from a realistic representation in some respects of a human being did not mean that such a figure was not a “person”,’ he ruled.
He said the material could ‘fuel demand for material that does involve the abuse of children,’ and therefore upheld the conviction.
The cartoon depicted characters modelled on Bart, Lisa and Maggie engaging in sex acts, and had been downloaded from the internet.
Had the images involved real children, McEwan would have been jailed, but the magistrate who initially heard the case instead fined him AU$3000 (£1,325)
Bart Simpson appeared naked in last year’s Simpsons movie, which was rated PG.
Published: 8 Dec 2008
