In an argument we had no idea even existed, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has continued to insist that he was the inspiration behind The Simpsons’ Duff Beer.
According to Ultimate Classic Rock, this isn’t the first time McKagan has brought the quirky factoid up in an interview – the last time was just last week during a chat with Stereogum.
Duff McKagan and Axl Rose in 1988.
“So I was Duff, the King of Beers,” McKagan began. “But this is 1988 [or] 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.
McKagan continued saying he “didn’t know anything 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, motherf**kers,’ you know?”
This week, TMZ brought the claim to Jay Kogen, original show writer and producer of The Simpsons.
Kogen not only denied it, he told TMZ he found it “very weird” McKagan wanted to claim credit for Duff Beer when “he had zero to do with it.”
“We named it Duff because it’s a synonym for butt, tushy, booty and so on,” Kogen deadpanned. “Duff is a beer for people who sat on their fat ass all day.”
McKagan is so adamant, the anecdote makes an appearance in his 2011 autobiography, ‘It’s So Easy (And Other Lies)’.
So who’s right?
Regardless, we have a strong guess this won’t be the last we’ll hear of this back-and-forth.
To be continued, clearly.
