An article about The Simpsons where a pun-based title isn't really appropriate

On January 7 2015, the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were attacked by two gunmen, killing 12 people and injuring 11 others.

Four days later, on January 11 2015, a new episode of The Simpsons, "Bart's New Friend", airs in the US. The following image was added, between the last scene with Homer and Marge and the "stinger" before the closing credits:

(The broadcast version was slightly animated, so go here for the full experience.) The episode is aired in the UK for the first time, and is viewed by your intrepid blog writer, by Sky One on March 8. The Charlie Hebdo tribute is not seen. "Well," I thought. "It was obviously a last-minute inclusion, Sky must have just been given an earlier copy without the clip."

However, another awful thing happens in the world in 2017, and it's again referenced by The Simpsons... and this time what happens is a little more complicated.

On September 20 2017, Puerto Rico is struck by Hurricane Maria, the worst natural disaster in the territory's history. Hundreds of people are killed, there are widespread floods, many houses and most of its agriculture are destroyed, and its electrical grid is knocked out, leaving the territory devastated and completely without power. The producers of The Simpsons make this image to appeal for help:

This image is seen at the end of the Season 29 premiere, "The Serfsons", broadcast in the US on October 1 2017. It is clearly a very last-minute inclusion, as it is pasted over where the Gracie Films logo would ordinarily go, indicating the episode was already picture-locked. Streaming copies on sites such as Hulu receive an earlier edit of the episode with the Gracie logo in its normal place, and hence no Puerto Rico image.

When the episode is first seen in the UK on Sky One, on December 29, it does not have the Puerto Rico image. But nor does it have the Gracie Films logo either, meaning that on Sky's copy, we go from the credits to the 20th Century Fox fanfare. So this cannot simply be explained by Sky being given an earlier copy, as if it was you'd expect the Gracie logo to be there.

There is one obvious explanation for why Sky's copy is the way it is: they got given the copy with the Puerto Rico image, but someone, somewhere (either in the US or UK) decided to cut it out. This would be very unfortunate if so, but I don't wish to jump to conclusions. (This would also raise questions about whether or not the omission of Je Suis Charlie from "Bart's New Friend" was an editorial decision, but again, that would be jumping to conclusions.)

However, whatever the reason, it is a terrible shame that the UK did not get to see the Puerto Rico image, especially given PR still did not have power when the episode was broadcast by Sky. There are still ongoing Maria relief campaigns you can donate to, so please consider doing so here.

Additional information, or possible explanations for the omission on Sky, would be welcome.

(Thanks to Wesley Mead for helping to confirm a few of the details in this article)