80s rock legend says The Simpsons should 'own up' to using his name

The Guns N’ Roses bassist thinks the most popular beverage in Springfield is named after him (Picture: Twentieth Century Fox/Getty)

Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan is adamant Duff beer, famously featured heavily in The Simpsons, is named after him.

Homer Simpson and the regulars at Moe’s Tavern, which recently got rid of its cigarette machine after 33 years, are usually sipping on a Duff beer, the go-to beverage of Springfield.

McKagan, however, has a theory that his name is the inspiration behind the brand of booze.

In his 2011 autobiography It’s So Easy and Other Lies, the Welcome to The Jungle musician previously revealed a ‘production company working on a new animated series’ requested to use the name ‘Duff’ for a brand of beer to be used in the show, paying homage to his reputation as a ‘big drinker’.

Having absolutely no idea quite how big said animated series would become, he gave the green light without asking for a penny.

However, several The Simpsons writers have debunked McKagan’s claims.

Duff beer is a regular feature in The Simpsons thanks to its biggest fan, Homer (Picture: Twentieth Century Fox)

McKagan still performs in rock god band Guns N’ Roses (Picture: Getty)

Regardless, he’s doubled down in a new interview with Stereogum.

‘Here’s the deal,’ he said. ‘So I was Duff, the King of Beers. But this is 1988, 1989 and our management, I remember they called me and said some arthouse-like cartoon wants to use your name as the beer, like a college arthouse cartoon.

‘There weren’t any adult cartoons at this point.

‘I didn’t know about branding or anything like that, but that show took off. And then they started selling merch and stuff.

McKagan claimed he was approached by a new animated series in the 1980s to use his name (Picture: Getty)

‘I never went after him [creator Matt Groening], but I’m like, “Hey, mother**kers,’ you know?”’

‘I think it’s very probably business savvy of them to say that’s not true,’ he continued.

‘But if you just do your own math behind it, look at when they started off with the King of Beers, and I had my King of Beers belt I wore all the time.’

McKagan stressed again though that he still wasn’t going to ask them for money.

The Simpsons fans have recently been shocked to discover the cartoon’s confirmed link to a music giant as Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson is actually related to Espresso songstress Sabrina Carpenter.

The Simpsons is available to stream on Disney Plus in the UK.

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