‘Simpsons’ Writer Denies Duff McKagan’s Influence on Beer Name

There’s been another volley in the seemingly endless back-and-forth between Duff McKagan and The Simpsons creators over the inspiration for Duff Beer — this time from original show writer and producer Jay Kogen, who has yet again denied any connection to the Guns N’ Roses bassist.

McKagan reignited the debate last week, telling Stereogum: “So I was Duff, the King of Beers. But this is 1988, 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.

“I didn’t know about branding or anything like that, but that show took off,” McKagan continued. “And then they started selling merch and stuff. I never went after him, but I’m like, ‘Hey, motherfuckers,’ you know?”

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Jay Kogen’s Response to Duff McKagan’s Duff Beer Claims

Kogen recently denied McKagan’s influence over Duff Beer, telling TMZ that the reasoning behind the name was not that deep. “We named it Duff because it’s a synonym for butt, tushy, booty and so on,” he said. “Duff is a beer for people who sat on their fat ass all day.”

Furthermore, Kogen said The Simpsons writers and producers at the time didn’t know any members of Guns N’ Roses besides Axl Rose. Keeping in mind that Appetite for Destruction had already sold 8 million copies by the time The Simpsons debuted in December 1989, that might not be something to proudly advertise. It seems unbelievable that one of the most pop-culturally astute writing teams in television history wasn’t at least familiar with iconic top-hatted guitarist Slash by that point.

Nevertheless, Kogen is sticking to his guns (pun intended). “It’s very weird this Duff McKagan guy wants to claim credit for Duff Beer,” he told TMZ. “He had zero to do with it.”