Nancy Cartwright Promoting Scientology
Voice of Bart Simpson Records Voicemail Promo In Character
Jan 30, 2009
Voice actor Nancy Cartwright – best known for voicing 10-year-old troublemaker Bart Simpson – is in trouble with Fox after she used her character's voice to promote a Scientology convention.
According to blogger Perez Hilton, Cartwright – a Scientologist since 1989 – recorded a voicemail message to boost attendance at an event in Hollywood that she's speaking at on Saturday.
"Yo, what's happenin' man, this is Bart Simpson," Cartwright says at the start of the message, adding Bart's famous chuckle. "Just kidding, don't hang up, this is Nancy Cartwright," she continues in her own voice, "and this is a very special phone call to you."
Cartwright then touts the event for 59 seconds, regularly switching several times between her own voice and that of Bart Simpson. She also uses Bart's trademark laugh at least three times during the message.
"It's gonna be a blast, man," she says, in character.
Fox, The Simpsons Deny Any Scientology Links
The Simpsons producer Al Jean quickly responded to the furor, saying there was no connection between the show and the celebrity-driven religious cult.
This is not authorized by us," Jean said about the message. "The Simpsons does not, and never has, endorsed any religion, philosophy or system of beliefs any more profound than Butterfinger bars."
Officials at Fox – which airs the long-running animated sitcom – said no further action would be taken against Cartwright over the incident. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has not made any comment.
Nancy Cartwright: The Simpsons Voice Actor, Scientologist
Cartwright has voiced several characters on the show – in addition to Bart, she voices Nelson Muntz, Todd Flanders, Kearney and Ralph Wiggum – since it first aired on December 17, 1989. That same year, she joined Scientology and in 2007, donated $10 million (twice her current yearly salary) to the group.
Scientology has long made a practice of recruiting celebrities. In 1955, founder L. Ron Hubbard launched "Operation Celebrity," a drive to get famous people involved in the cult.
"Celebrities are very Special people and have a very distinct line of dissemination," Hubbard wrote to his followers in 1973. "They have comm[unication] lines that others do not have and many medias [sic] to get their dissemination through."
In addition to Cartwright, other known celebrity Scientologists include actors John Travolta, Juliette Lewis, Kirstie Alley, the late Isaac Hayes, Catherine Bell, Jason Lee, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Anne Archer, musicians Beck and Edgar Winter, and opera singer Julia Migenes.
Unlike other famous endorsers, such as Hayes who quit South Park over the "Trapped in the Closet" episode, Cartwright has never shied away from spoofing her beliefs.
In 1998, she participated in a Simpsons episode called "The Joy of Sect," which featured Homer and his family, plus most of Springfield, getting caught up in a religious cult called the Movementarians.
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