A Simpsons meme repurposed for the current COVID-19 outbreak is “gross,”The  Simpsons writer Bill Oakley told The Hollywood Reporter.

The “Marge in Chains” Simpsons episode from 1993 features a sickness shown in a joke to have originated from Osaka, Japan. The scene shows an ill factory worker who coughs into boxes for juicers heading to Springfield. After many in Springfield order said juicer, weeks later, the town experiences an outbreak of illness. The illness is called the “Osaka Flu.”

Oakley said memes have been created using “Coronavirus” in place of “Osaka Flu” and he finds it gross.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=the-top-30-simpsons-episodes&captions=true”]

“I don’t like it being used for nefarious purposes,” Oakley told THR in regard to “Marge in Chains,” an episode of The Simpsons that he helped write. “The idea that anyone misappropriates it to make Coronavirus seem like an Asian plot is terrible. In terms of trying to place blame on Asia — I think that is gross.”

Oakley said the scene in “Marge in Chains” showing where the illness originated from was “supposed to be a quick joke about how the flu got here.”

“It was meant to be absurd that someone could cough into (a) box and the virus would survive for six to eight weeks in the box,” Oakley said. “It is cartoonish. We intentionally made it cartoonish because we wanted it to be silly and not scary, and not carry any of these bad associations along with it, which is why the virus itself was acting like a cartoon character and behaving in extremely unrealistic ways.”

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/20/10-times-the-simpsons-predicted-the-future”]

You can watch “Marge in Chains” as well as all 30 seasons of The Simpsons on Disney’s streaming service, Disney+. In future episodes, don’t exepct Hank Azaria to voice Simpsons character Apu anymore, as he is stepping down from the role.

For more about The Simpsons, check out the show’s Avengers: Endgame crossover poster and read about how composer Danny Elfman created the show’s theme in just one day.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes

Source: IGN.com Simpsons Writer Says Coronavirus Meme Is 'Gross'