Fact check: Was the Simpsons’ Duff Beer named after Duff McKagan? OG producer-writer, Jay Kogen addresses claims

Duff Beer from The Simpsons is one of the most widely recognized fictional products in the world, however, doubts still persist on whether the drink was named after Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan. In a TMZ article published on Sunday, June 16, the show's OG producer-writer Jay Kogen told the publication that the name of the iconic drink had nothing to do with McKagan at all.

The writer told the publication that the drink was named Duff due to the word being a simple synonym for butt. Despite the claim previously being refuted by both the show's Creator Matt Groening and former showrunner Mike Reiss, the rocker still insisted in a June 7 interview with Stereogum that the drink was named after himself and further claimed that it was "business savvy" of the showrunners to deny it.

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Duff McKagan's Duff Beer claims got shot down multiple times

Duff McKagan attained legendary status as the longtime bassist for the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, however, the rocker still claims status as the inspiration behind Duff Beer from The Simpsons. Recently, in an interview published by Stereogum on June 7, the bassist further persisted that the beer was named after him.

When the interviewer asked Duff if the claims were true, the rocker immediately replied in the affirmative. He told the publication:

"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."

The rocker elaborated that he did not know anything about branding at the time. The show was a massive hit and Duff claimed that he never went after the showrunners but remembered feeling like "Hey, motherf**kers". The Guns N' Roses bassist further addressed the issue of the show's creators denying the rumor. He explained:

"So I think it’s very probably business savvy of them to say that’s not true. But if you just do your own math behind it, look at when they started off with the King of Beers, and I had my King of Beers belt I wore all the time."

When the interviewer noted that Duff's claims lined up timeline-wise, the rocker insisted that it was fine and that he did not care anyway. However, when the interviewer suggested that The Simpsons should own up to Duff's claims, the rocker stated:

"They should. I’m not going to ask them for money."

Contrary to Duff McKagan's claims, the OG producer-writer of The Simpsons Jay Kogen told TMZ in an article published on Sunday, that the rocker's claims were false for two reasons. Firstly, the writer insisted that there wasn't any elaborate reasoning behind naming Duff Beer and secondly, because none of the writers knew anyone from GNR except for Axl Rose. The writer told the publication:

"We named it Duff because it's a synonym for butt, tushy, booty, and so on."

Before claiming that Duff beer was just a beverage for people who sat on their fat a*s every day, the writer further pointed out:

"It's very weird this Duff McKagan guy wants to claim credit for Duff Beer ... He had zero to do with it."

In his 2018 book, Springfield Confidential, The Simpsons former showrunner Mike Reiss had already denied Duff McKagan's Duff Beer claims. The showrunner wrote:

"We needed a name for Homer’s favorite beer, and (writer) Jay Kogen came up with Duff."

He further added:

"No, it was not named after Duff McKagan, bassist for Guns N’ Roses; we’d never heard of this guy. Have you?"

Furthermore, UCR stated in an article published on June 10 that The Simpsons creator Matt Groening had reportedly stated that DUff's claims were "absurd".

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Season 35 of The Simpsons aired on Fox from October 1, 2023, to May 19, 2024. The show has also been renewed for an upcoming 36th season.