‘The Simpsons’ Premiere Made An Arnold Palmer Joke On The Day He Died

Unlike South Park, which sometimes comes within an hour of missing its deadline, episodes of The Simpsons are completed months in advance. That makes topical references tough when you don’t know if people will still be talking about Dirty Grandpa months later (they won’t be). It’s one of the reasons why the longest running scripted primetime show ever has started embracing web shorts, like the one featuring Donald Trump answering his phone at 3 a.m. By this point, 28 seasons in, The Simpsons’ multi-month production cycle is a well-oiled machine, but every so often, something unpredictable happens. That happened last night during the season premiere, which included an Arnold Palmer joke… hours after the legendary golfer died.

Homer tells Marge that he and Carl are going to “Arnold Palmer” Lenny (not Lenny!), which apparently means filling water guns with lemonade and iced tea, then spraying him with it. Honestly, that sounds pretty good. Much better than a post-victory Gatorade bath. When Marge incredulously asks about his plan, Homer replies, “Yeah, you see, Arnold Palmer was a golfer, and he made up this drink where it’s not a full glass of lemonade or a full glass of iced tea.”

The reference is a case of bad timing — when showrunner Al Jean was asked on Twitter whether the line would be cut from the West Coast broadcast, he replied, “I wish I could but it’s too late” — and not another instance of The Simpsons Did It. Unlike the Ebola outbreak and September 11th.