Why has no President been a guest star on The Simpsons?

[Former Crackhead Mike Lindell]

Why have none of them lent their voice on the show? Even when out of office? Why do so many Presidents and Presidential candidates do Saturday Night Live, but not The Simpsons? Tony Blair appeared on the show while in office, but I can't even think of a single American politician who has.

[NewYorkExpress]

I admit to being mildly surprised that neither George H.W Bush or Bill Clinton have provided their own voices, as both have appeared on the Simpsons before.

For that matter, they've featured Trump (usually as insult), during his presidency, and I actually thought he provided his own voice, that's how spot on it was.

Take a listen to this, for instance.

Tell me that doesn't sound like Trump (or AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib, Ayanna Pressley or Biden for that matter.).

[Mr. Smith]

Teddy Roosevelt's voice was used once.

That said, it was too controversial in the 90's and it's been too irrelevant since then.

[John Dule]

That might be the worst thing I've ever seen in my life.

[The Houstonian]

That might be the worst thing I've ever seen in my life.

I agree.

[Alben Barkley]

Michelle Obama was on once, IDK why a president never has been. Would have been funny if HW voiced himself in the episode where they skewer the crap out of him.

[Progressive Pessimist]

That might be the worst thing I've ever seen in my life.

Yeah, the impression isn't great. It sounds too much like the Mayor.

That's yet another added benefit of Trump hopefully becoming irrelevant, by the way, we'll be subjected to less attempts to impersonate him.

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

Michelle Obama was on once, IDK why a president never has been. Would have been funny if HW voiced himself in the episode where they skewer the crap out of him.

I believe Angela Bassett did Michelle's voice

[Alben Barkley]

Michelle Obama was on once, IDK why a president never has been. Would have been funny if HW voiced himself in the episode where they skewer the crap out of him.

I believe Angela Bassett did Michelle's voice

Huh, this is like a Mandela Effect thing to me cause I could have sworn reading somewhere that she voiced herself. Oh well, guess in that case no POTUS or FLOTUS has ever been on the show.

As for my best guess why no American politicians has ever seemed to want to go on the show? Well, back in the day, it actually had a reputation as being a bit edgy and controversial, tame as it seems now. So they might have wanted to avoid association with it and any controversy that might have gone along with that. Plus they probably would have had to make fun of themselves, and politicians tend to have egos that might make them not like that. Though some have more senses of humor than others, and they tend to be self-deprecating at the WHCD, before Trump anyway, who obviously has the biggest ego of all. And hell, Hillary Clinton went on Howard Stern! (Though not until after her career was over.)

They might, of course, just not like or care about the show, especially nowadays. When it was relevant, it was controversial, and now that it's not so controversial, it's not relevant. So maybe the timing was just never right.

This Wiki article has a long list of all the guest stars that rejected the show or didn't pan out, and it includes a number of politicians, including POTUSes and VPs. Apparently Reagan was actually the only one of several presidents who responded at all to their request for one episode.

There's also a whole backstory to the episode they did which revolved entirely around George H.W. Bush, which I know because I own all the early seasons of The Simpsons on DVD and used to watch them all the time. The disc with that episode had a featurette which showed how Bush once bashed the show in a speech, saying the country should be "more like The Waltons and less like The Simpsons." The writers subsequently wrote a letter to Barbara Bush in-character as Marge, and she actually responded favorably. But still, they made the episode making fun of them as a result of all this, though Barbara gets off pretty lightly while George is mocked mercilessly.

[DINGO Joe]

"Big deal! When I was a pup, we got spanked by Presidents till the cows came home. Grover Cleveland spanked me on two non-consecutive occasions"--Grandpa Simpson

[Alben Barkley]

"Big deal! When I was a pup, we got spanked by Presidents till the cows came home. Grover Cleveland spanked me on two non-consecutive occasions"--Grandpa Simpson

That's the kind of joke that only political history nerds get, which is why I'm always grateful they put it in there.

[Alben Barkley]

Oh the irony!

Turns out Donald Trump is the only president who ever wanted to be on the show, but also is the only one the producers refused to allow to be on the show!

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/simpsons-donald-trump-request-voice-character-reject-ed-sheeran-a7865556.html

LOL

[Joe Republic]

I keep forgetting that this show is somehow still running.  It's older than my wife.

[Alben Barkley]

I keep forgetting that this show is somehow still running.  It's older than my wife.

It's older than me by almost a year.

[Joe Republic]

I keep forgetting that this show is somehow still running.  It's older than my wife.

It's older than me by almost a year.

It had already entered its stale, past-its-prime period before people now entering their twenties were born.

[Alben Barkley]

I keep forgetting that this show is somehow still running.  It's older than my wife.

It's older than me by almost a year.

It had already entered its stale, past-its-prime period before people now entering their twenties were born.

Holy crap. That's surreal to even begin to think about.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

First off, old men usually aren't very animated. More to the point, The Simpsons brand of humor isn't very political, so it's probably impossible to do good good episode of the show in which having a specific President (or ex-President) be a major guest star. Besides, the only living ex-President who has had a post-Presidency that would be worth alluding to in an episode of that show would be Jimmy Carter.

[Alben Barkley]

First off, old men usually aren't very animated. More to the point, The Simpsons brand of humor isn't very political, so it's probably impossible to do good good episode of the show in which having a specific President (or ex-President) be a major guest star. Besides, the only living ex-President who has had a post-Presidency that would be worth alluding to in an episode of that show would be Jimmy Carter.

Except, as I alluded to, they made an entire episode about HW Bush, and it is literally my favorite episode of the entire show. And not just me, it’s generally considered a classic.

Back in the day, at least, they were absolutely capable of top notch political satire. The ONLY thing that could have made that episode would have been Bush voicing himself.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

First off, old men usually aren't very animated. More to the point, The Simpsons brand of humor isn't very political, so it's probably impossible to do good good episode of the show in which having a specific President (or ex-President) be a major guest star. Besides, the only living ex-President who has had a post-Presidency that would be worth alluding to in an episode of that show would be Jimmy Carter.

Except, as I alluded to, they made an entire episode about HW Bush, and it is literally my favorite episode of the entire show. And not just me, it’s generally considered a classic.

Back in the day, at least, they were absolutely capable of top notch political satire. The ONLY thing that could have made that episode would have been Bush voicing himself.

That episode came about not because of politics, but a sassy comment Bush made about the show. They literally could have made essentially the same show using any other celebrity, political or not, who had the good sense to prefer The Waltons to The Simpsons.  It was satirizing a celebrity, not a politician.