The Simpsons will feature its first-ever use of American Sign Language and deaf voice actors

Variety

Sunday's “The Sound of Bleeding Gums" episode "centers on Lisa Simpson, who discovers that her favorite musician and mentor, the late saxophonist Bleeding Gums Murphy, had a son who was born deaf," per Variety. "She meets the young man, Monk, who wants to get a cochlear implant — but Lisa gets a little too over-exuberant in trying to help him." Loni Steele Sosthand, who joined The Simpsons in 2020, wrote the episode inspired by her family and her brother, who is deaf. And John Autry II is the first-ever deaf Simpsons actor. Sunday's episode managed to pull off American Sign Language despite The Simpsons characters only having four fingers.