Many people have been paying their respects to Prince through various tributes. Saturday Night Live aired a special dedicated to his mesmerizing musical performances, and many other musicians, rappers, and radio DJs honored his incredible legacy. Former assistant to The Simpsons producers, Jacqueline Atkins, managed to find a copy of a yet-unaired, Prince-heavy script upon hearing of his passing and emailed it over to showrunner Al Jean. Jean paid his own respects by sharing screenshots of the enigmatic Prince episode.
According to Jean, the episode was due to go into production for around season 4 or 5. The screen grabs tell us that Lisa, a keen musician herself, won tickets to see Prince, and the box office guy was not cooperating with her. Prince even later interacts with Marge's sister, Selma, which Jean cites as a reason Prince may have objected to the script.
Vulture suggests that the screenwriters responsible are yet to claim ownership of the script. Mike Reiss, a writer on the show says it was jokes collated from freelancers tied together by Conan O'Brien, while showrunner Bill Oakley says it was O'Brien's work entirely. We'll have to wait for confirmation from Conan himself.
RIP Purple One.
