Simpsons Actor's Offer to Cut Salary Rejected

Fox is playing hardball with the six voice actors who did more to raise a generation than parents, religion, and school combined.

Harry Shearer, the voice behind such beloved characters on The Simpsons as Mr. Burns, Smithers, and Ned Flanders, said he offered to cut his pay by 70 per cent in exchange for a bit of the show's profits to help make sure Fox can afford to produce a 24th season of the timeless cartoon. However, Shearer said 20th Century Fox Television rebuffed his offer, despite the network previously suggesting that the show's voice actors needed to take a 45-per-cent pay cut to keep the show afloat. Shearer, along with actors Dan Castelleneta (Homer), Hank Azaria (Apu, Chief Wiggum, Moe), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Julie Kavner (Marge), and Nancy Cartwright (Bart) had previously offered a 30-per-cent cut plus a share of show profits, but Fox killed that deal, too.