According to Duff McKagan, bassist for Guns N’ Roses, he is the inspiration behind The Simpsons’ iconic Duff Beer. McKagan firmly stands by his story, noting,So I was Duff, the King of Beers. 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.
The GNR rocker agreed, initially thinking it wouldn’t amount to much.I didn’t know about branding or anything like that, but that show took off. And then they started selling merch and stuff. I never went after him, but I’m like, ‘Hey, motherfuckers,’ you know?
McKagan’s Claims Aren’t New
McKagan has recounted this story before. In his 2011 autobiography, he wrote,When Guns N’ Roses began to break into the public consciousness, I was known as a big drinker. In 1988, MTV aired a concert in which Axl introduced me—as usual—as Duff ‘The King of Beers’ McKagan. Soon after, a production company working on a new animated series called me to ask if they could use the name ‘Duff’ for a brand of beer in the show.
The Simpsons Writers Refute McKagan’s Story
Yet The Simpsons’ writers have consistently denied this linkage. Series creator Matt Groening dismissed it as ‘absurd’, while former showrunner Mike Reiss clarified in his book Springfield Confidential:We needed a name for Homer’s favorite beer, and (writer) Jay Kogen came up with Duff. No, it was not named after Duff McKagan, bassist for Guns N’ Roses; we’d never heard of this guy. Have you?
Divergent Narratives Persist
Despite these refutations, McKagan sticks by his version.I think it’s very probably business savvy of them to say that’s not true. 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.
No matter where the truth lies between these conflicting narratives, one fact remains:
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