Top 20 Worst Things Homer Simpson Ever Did
D'oh! For this list, we’ll be looking at the most appalling acts committed by one of our favorite cartoon fathers. If you’ve never seen these moments in action, expect spoilers ahead.
Transcript
00:00 "Oof, this is hard. Where's my tab? Okay then, yes, vent the stupid gas."
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 worst things
00:10 Homer Simpson ever did. "All right, let's get our story straight for Marge and Maude."
00:14 For this list, we're looking at the most appalling acts committed by one of our favorite cartoon
00:19 fathers. We'll be excluding the stuff he did by accident, like getting Maude Flanders killed,
00:24 since those were unintentional. If you've never seen these moments in action,
00:28 expect spoilers ahead. Where do you think Homer crossed the line? Let us know in the comments.
00:34 Number 20. "Why, you little!" One of the Simpsons' most iconic running gags occurs
00:41 every time Bart gets on Homer's bad side. "Your script sucks." "Why, you little!"
00:45 "Hey, that's funny." Homer angrily shouts, "Why, you little!" and proceeds to strangle his mischievous
00:53 son. "Domer." "Why, you little!" Admittedly, we all laughed at this gag for a while, but looking back,
01:01 it's a lot more disturbing to watch. Even if Bart is a little devil, this is straight-up traumatic
01:06 and is bound to leave lasting damage. You know you've messed up when Peter Griffin,
01:11 objectively an even worse dad, calls you out for it. Just think about that for a minute.
01:17 "Why, you little!" "Boy, must die!" Number 19. "Betting against Lisa." Lisa has become obsessed
01:30 with crossword puzzles and even enters a tournament. Homer has been betting on Lisa's
01:35 wins, but in the final match, he bets against his own daughter. "I want to change my bet. I'm going
01:41 against my daughter." "I'll take your money, but I won't look you in the eye." He knows that Lisa's
01:47 luck will run out and plays it to his advantage. It's even more unfair considering that the only
01:52 reason she loses is that the other contestant cheats. "Well, sweetie, daddy made a little extra
01:58 money betting against you in the crossword tournament." When Lisa finds out her own father
02:02 didn't believe in her, she rightfully disowns him, which is still less than he deserves.
02:08 To be fair, he comes up with a clever way to apologize, but that hardly makes up for
02:12 not being in his own child's corner. "Well, I must admit I'm kind of touched. Dumb dad,
02:18 sorry for his bed. Nice." Number 18. "His deal with Fat Tony." It's staggering how Homer gets
02:25 into these screwy scenarios. In this misadventure, he falls for a gambling scam and ends up in debt
02:31 with Fat Tony. "Don't worry, we can hammer out a payment plan." Fortunately, the mob boss is
02:38 willing to negotiate. Unfortunately, it involves using Homer's house to shoot an adult film.
02:44 If that isn't scummy enough, Homer lies to Marge and tricks her and the kids into getting out of
02:49 the house while the movie's in production. Naturally, he gets found out and Marge is
02:53 furious. He keeps telling himself that it's a normal routine, but nothing about this is normal.
02:59 "Honey, please just listen to what I have to say." "All right." "I owe the mafia money."
03:06 "Where are you going?" Homer should be grateful that Marge is so forgiving,
03:09 as you can only push your luck for so long. "Marge, I'm always amazed you chose me."
03:15 "And I always will." "Woohoo!" Number 17. "Pray for Mojo." Homer learns about helper monkeys and
03:23 naturally wants one for himself. "Helper monkey, eh?" So what does he do? He uses his father,
03:29 someone who needs assistance, to get him Mojo the monkey. Unfortunately, to no one's surprise,
03:35 Homer is a bad influence, and spending so much time with him causes Mojo to become as lazy as he
03:40 is. "The monkey's on my part of the sofa." "Honey, he's clearly marked his territory." With his
03:48 beloved monkey's health deteriorating, Homer gives Mojo away, but it may already be too late for him.
03:54 With how bad an influence Homer is, it's nothing short of a miracle that his kids are still alive.
04:00 Heck, given that Mojo took up his habits, it's a miracle that Homer is still alive.
04:05 "Pray for Mojo." Number 16. "The Tamaco." Right off the bat, Homer's buffoonery forces his family
04:14 to skip town and live on a farm for a while, but that's mild compared to what happens next.
04:19 "Something will thrive in this harsh, merciless soil, and for those who face nature unafraid,
04:25 it is they who reach the-" "I'm down!" Trying his hand at farming, Homer decides to use plutonium
04:31 to try and grow crops. It works, but he ends up growing the Tamaco, a mutant tomato-tobacco hybrid.
04:38 "But the inside is brown." "Maybe the tomato seeds cross-spread with the tobacco seeds." "Oh great,
04:43 I get a field full of mutants." The abominable fruit is incredibly addictive, so Homer, of course,
04:49 starts selling it. "Holy Moses, it does taste like grandma." "I want more." "Yeah, me too. We'll take
04:55 a bushel or a packer. Just give it to me." Unfortunately for Homer, his newest scam
04:59 backfires in a major way when the local animals get a taste of the Tamaco, forcing Homer to shut
05:05 down his operation. Serves him right for tampering with nature and trying to profit.
05:09 Number 15. Pitting Bart and Lisa against each other. It sure can be hard to love your kids
05:15 equally. What's a father to do when put in this situation other than have his offspring compete
05:20 against each other and love the winner best? After all, if your kid really wanted your love,
05:25 they wouldn't lose, right? "Why is Bart getting a present and I'm getting chewed out?" "Ah,
05:30 the mysteries of life." In case you couldn't tell, everything up to now has been sarcastic,
05:36 though Homer likely would have agreed with it all. "I want to see you both fighting for your
05:41 parents' love. Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight,
05:47 fight." To avoid failing gym class, Lisa joins the hockey team, which sparks an intense rivalry
05:52 with Bart. Instead of assuring them that he loves them both, as a normal father would do,
05:56 Homer eggs them on into a competitive fury. "They're both losers, losers!"
06:03 Number 14. Exploiting Bart getting hit by a car. There are certain opportunities that only come up
06:10 once in a lifetime. These are the sort of moments you must recognize and make the most of. One such
06:15 moment for Homer Simpson was when Bart got hit by Mr. Burns' car. In Homer's defense, he doesn't
06:21 immediately jump to legal action, but only does so after his boss offers him a pitiful 100 bucks
06:27 as compensation. "I'll tell you what I think. I think he thinks I'm an idiot! The only reason
06:33 he's offering us this is because he knows he's gonna lose the trial and have to pay us a cool
06:39 million." Homer's wounded pride prompts him to ride Bart's injury as far as it'll take him,
06:44 with little regard for the well-being or wishes of his family. Number 13. His Las Vegas marriage.
06:52 One of the few times Homer does something nice for Ned Flanders, it completely backfires.
06:56 For context, Ned joins Homer on a getaway in Las Vegas, and the two get stupid drunk,
07:07 and end up marrying two women. You could blame Homer's actions on the alcohol,
07:17 but did he have to drag his neighbor into this? They ditch the two ladies, but this blunder comes
07:23 back to haunt Homer in a future episode when their Vegas wives track them down. And how does
07:28 Homer fix everything? By tricking his Vegas wife into marrying his father. The moral of the story?
07:34 Never let Homer go to Vegas ever again, especially when drunk. "Give it to me, baby!"
07:42 "Homer!" "It's okay, we're married!" Number 12. Intolerant to new neighbors.
07:48 Bart's made friends with a Muslim boy named Bashir. At first, Homer welcomes Bashir with
07:53 open arms, but his friends convince him that Bashir and his family might be terrorists.
07:58 "Oh my God, what can I do?" Naturally, Homer's paranoia gets the better of him,
08:02 and he treats them terribly. He insults them, he sneaks into their personal lives,
08:07 and ends up blowing up a bridge causing a truck driver to drown. "The Duff Brewery is on that
08:12 island." "I'll save you!" You could argue that his friends are to blame for their intolerance
08:21 and for giving him the idea in the first place, but Homer is the one who takes it too far. But
08:26 of course, they just laugh it off in the end, and everyone forgives him for his hurtful stereotyping.
08:32 "That banner has really paid for itself over the years." "We accept your apology." Number 11.
08:38 Poor Barney. Honestly, watching Barney Gumbel struggle with his alcohol use disorder is
08:44 pretty tragic. But would you believe he wasn't always like this? As a teenager, Barney was a
08:49 clean, intelligent man who was well on his way to Harvard. "Lacrimosus to dyspeptic as ebullient is
08:56 to effervescent. All right, Harvard, here I come." However, on the night before the SATs,
09:03 Homer offered Barney a beer, and that one ill-fated drink was all it took to change him
09:08 for the worse. While Homer wasn't trying to ruin Barney's life, he still pressured him to drink
09:14 the beer, and since that day, Barney has been on a downward spiral. "It begins! Give me that!
09:23 Stop it, Barney! No!" He can try to stop drinking, but he'll just start again in no time all thanks
09:29 to his so-called best friend. "Don't cry for me. I'm already dead." Number 10. Nearly causing a
09:37 nuclear meltdown. It's no secret that Homer hates his job at the nuclear power plant, but just how
09:43 far is he willing to go to get out of it? Apparently enough to jeopardize his own health.
09:49 "If you weigh more than 300 pounds, you qualify as disabled." Homer learns that people who weigh
09:55 over 300 pounds can work from home, so he gets his weight up into the appropriate range.
10:00 Unfortunately, Homer deals with some stigma when it comes to his weight gain. Not only that,
10:05 he also becomes so bored with his job he nearly causes a nuclear meltdown. To his credit,
10:11 he does take responsibility in the end and puts everything right. Too bad it takes nearly
10:16 destroying his workplace for him to get his act together. He's lazy enough at his job.
10:21 Why go the extra destructive mile? "One, one, one, but I'll just pay for the blasted liposuction."
10:30 Number 9. Being reckless with firearms. We can't really fault Homer for this one.
10:37 It's just a fact of life that TV remotes often get lost. "Watch me turn on the TV."
10:46 And it's another fact of life that sometimes you want to change the channel.
10:49 When these two eventualities collide, what's a body to do other than reach for a firearm
10:54 and proceed to shoot at the dial until you find the channel you're looking for?
10:57 "Sorry, the law requires a five-day waiting period. We've got to run a background check."
11:03 "Five days? But I'm mad now." The mere fact that a person as irresponsible as Homer Simpson could
11:09 get a firearm is horrifying to consider, but the ways in which he wields his gun
11:14 are downright dumbfounding. "You want me to get the cat down?" "No thanks." Say what you will
11:19 about the NRA, but at least their fictional on-screen counterparts kicked out this gun nut.
11:23 Number 8. Forcing Flanders to leave his own bomb shelter. When a comet is discovered heading
11:30 straight for Springfield, the town naturally panics. As it turns out, Flanders owns the only
11:35 bomb shelter in town, and so when doomsday draws near, the entire town goes to old Netarino for
11:41 help. "Well, howdy doodly neighbors. Shouldn't you be in your shelterinis by now?" "We haven't
11:49 got shelterinis." Being the stand-up guy he is, he lets them all in, only to find that the door
11:55 won't close. Realizing there's one person too many, Homer, being the jerk that he is, convinces
12:01 the town to kick Ned out of his own shelter. "If anyone dies, it should be him." "I'm sorry,
12:08 please forgive me." Sure, he feels guilty later and goes out to join Flanders, but he wouldn't
12:13 have had cause for remorse had he not behaved like a monster in the first place. Number 7.
12:19 Captain Tennille. After losing his job, again, Homer ends up joining the Navy. The submarine's
12:25 captain takes a liking to Homer, and even wants to promote him. Boy, will he learn to regret it.
12:32 "I like the cut of your jib." "What's a jib?" "Promote that man." Later, Homer is put in charge
12:40 when the captain gets stuck in a torpedo tube, and one of the first things he does is fire the
12:45 torpedoes, launching his commanding officer at the enemy ship. Even if Homer doesn't know what
12:51 he's doing, which is usually the case, this captain is probably the nicest boss he'll ever
12:56 have. "Tell me, young man, what do you want out of life?" "I want peace." "We all want peace,
13:04 but it's always just out of reach." He respects Homer and says he's like a son to him,
13:09 but Homer pays him no mind and ends up getting him killed. Talk about gratitude. "It's my first day!"
13:17 Number 6. Signing the family up for shock therapy. Impressing the boss is important,
13:23 especially when that boss is the richest man in Springfield. At a company picnic,
13:28 the Simpsons fail to live up to Homer's hopes, leaving him feeling embarrassed. Noticing how
13:33 much Mr. Burns likes the more normal families, he decides to fix his family. In his infinite wisdom,
13:40 he takes them to a therapist who's been advertising on TV with the sales pitch,
13:44 "Family Bliss" or "Double Your Money Back." "This is not the way to get healthy!" Of course,
13:51 none of it works and they end up resorting to shock therapy, which they all happily inflict
13:56 on each other until the town's power nearly goes out. "Dr. Monroe, your other patients have
14:01 fled the building!" "Stop! You're damaging the equipment!" Number 5. Urging Bart to kill a
14:10 reindeer. Lots of things can be cured by shooting a reindeer in the face. Queerness isn't one of
14:16 them. Homer got along great with his new friend John until he found out he was gay and then
14:21 became paranoid that Bart had been turned gay. Never mind the fact that that is not how that
14:25 works. "I resent you people using that word. That's our word for making fun of you!" So,
14:32 Homer being Homer, tries to cure Bart of his supposed budding queerness. First, he takes him
14:37 to a steel mill, only to discover that all the employees there are also gay. "Hot stuff coming
14:43 through!" Logically, he then takes him on the second most stereotypical straight pastime he
14:49 can imagine, hunting. This is Homer at his most offensive, ignorant, and disappointing. Number 4.
14:56 Sabotaging Flanders' business. Some people work hard at life, go to church, raise a great family,
15:02 and treat their wife well. And apparently, by Homer's estimation, those people don't deserve
15:06 nice things. Homer hates the insufferable but well-intentioned Ned Flanders. So, when Ned opens
15:12 a new business for left-handed people, Homer makes it his personal mission to sabotage it.
15:17 To achieve this, he wishes on a wishbone. "Just read it and weep! In your face, I've got more
15:23 chicken boot!" And sure enough, the business begins to fail, with Homer relishing every moment of it,
15:30 until things finally take too dark a turn even for him. "Even the good book can't help me now."
15:36 "Why not?" "I sold it to you for seven cents." "Oh." In this particular example of bad behavior,
15:42 Homer's ill-placed malice nearly cost Flanders his home. Number 3. Ruining his father's kidney.
15:49 Take a lesson from Homer. Old people are an inconvenience. Who cares that your dad raised you?
15:55 Stopping the car to let him use the bathroom is poor time management, right? "We gotta get home.
16:00 I don't wanna miss inside the actor's studio." In this episode, Abe's kidney explodes because
16:05 Homer refuses to pull over. That's pretty messed up. "Oh, I blame myself for this." "We all blame you."
16:14 Luckily, Homer agrees to help his dad out and donate his own organ. In true Homer fashion,
16:19 however, he gets cold feet and tries to get out of the surgery. Abe survives, but not because
16:25 Homer does the honorable thing. In his cowardice, he gets into an accident and they simply take the
16:30 kidney while he's on the operating table. Oh well. One bad turn deserves another. "You dance out that
16:37 door, you... Oh, get my kidney back, old man." Number 2. Framed Marge for DUI. From the very
16:43 first season, it was clear that Homer Simpson had a drinking problem. For Homer, alcohol has
16:49 seemingly always been the cause of and solution to all of life's problems. Heck, he even created
16:55 his own drink, the Flaming Homer. In this episode, however, things go too far. Everything initially
17:01 seems great as he and Marge bond over drinks at a wine tasting, but things soon go downhill quickly
17:07 when they continue to drink for several days and he ultimately crashes the car. "You're free to go."
17:12 "I can't believe I drove drunk." "But you do believe it, right?" Being the great guy he is,
17:18 he frames Marge because it would have been his last strike. Really? This is a truly despicable
17:25 move that really makes you question why Marge has stuck with him for so long. "Ah, shut up,
17:31 Captain Bringdown." Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell
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17:46 Number 1. Getting Springfield trapped in a dome. In the family's first theatrical film,
17:54 Homer carelessly dumps a silo of pig feces into the lake, causing an environmental disaster. Four
18:01 free donuts. The government uses this as an excuse to trap Springfield under a dome that they later
18:07 plan to destroy. "What are you telling us we're trapped like rats?" "No, rats can't be trapped
18:12 this easily. You're trapped like carrots." And Homer's only concern is running away from his
18:18 problems. This is arguably the most reckless thing he's ever done. He puts his town in mortal
18:24 danger and paints a huge target on his family's back. Even Marge, the only person in the world who
18:30 can overlook Homer's flaws, can't forgive this one. "It's huge. We're homeless. Our friends want
18:36 to kill us." To his credit, he makes amends in the end. But it could have been avoided if Homer took
18:42 responsibility even once. Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo.
18:49 And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
18:54 [Music]