Elon Musk's resurfaced Simpsons cameo has sparked a huge debate

Elon Musk’s cameo from The Simpsons passed a lot of people by when it first aired, but people are returning to the episode with renewed interest after it resurfaced online.

The Simpsons’ heavy reliance on celebrity cameos in its later years has been linked with a clear decline in quality – with the Lady Gaga episode Lisa Goes Gaga from 2012 the lowest-rated episode of the show ever on IMDB.

But it’s Musk’s appearance in particular which has provoked quite the debate online over recent days, with people calling out the episode which was first shown in 2015.

‘The Musk Who Fell to Earth’ sees Homer Simpsons strike up a friendship with the Tesla CEO as they set about revolutionising the nuclear power plant and getting on the wrong side of Mr Burns.

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A snapshot of a scene from the episode was posted on social media. After Homer makes a threat towards Musk, Lisa says: “Dad, no! Elon Musk is possibly the greatest living inventor!”

It wasn’t long before people were calling out the inconsistencies in the show.

Some criticised the show’s writing and the overly flattering description of Musk’s character, with one commenting: “‘Possibly’ doing a lot of work here.”

“‘Living’ is doing a ton of work, too,” one added.

Others argued that Lisa’s line about Musk is completely out of character, and shows how far the show has strayed from the direction of its 90s heyday.

Musk's 2015 cameo is being reappraised by fans onlineFox/Getty

One of the most outspoken comments racked up more than 175,000 likes, and it read: “I’ve not watched The Simpsons in years but even I know this goes against every fibre of Lisa Simpsons character and it makes me ill.”

“The writers forgot Lisa was a precocious child and not a mouth piece for centrist propaganda,” another added.

A fellow user commented: “LISA singing the praises of a billionaire is a HUGE betrayal of her character. Golden age Lisa is shown to be the one to do the exact opposite (see her relationship with Mr Burns, especially in the episode The Old Man and the Lisa).”

One more added: They turned Lisa from a headstrong and well-read activist (who had a habit of going overboard) into a tone policing spineless tool for the rich and famous…”

Another said: “90s Lisa would have hated Elon Musk.”