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#000
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#fff
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Kent Brockman
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Male
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White
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Unknown
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News anchorman
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Daughter (name unknown), girlfriend (Channel 6 weather girl), sister (unseen)
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Krusty Gets Busted
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is one of the recurring
Fictional Character s from
The Simpsons , and is voiced by
Harry Shearer .
He is a local TV news "personality" for
KBBL-TV (Channel 6). He hosts the KBBL weeknight news (
Scott Christian is the weekend news anchor and Kent's fill-in) as well as ''
Smartline '', a local current affairs show and ''
Eye On Springfield '' which focuses mostly on
Springfield's entertainment news. His character bears a striking resemblance to
Los Angeles news anchor
Jerry Dunphy .
Brockman represents the worst of his profession; frequently judgmental, careerist to the point of absurdity, and more than willing to film a schmaltzy, emotion driven puff piece for the sake of a few extra ratings points. He has been seen throwing tantrums because he cannot find certain snack foods, and once blithely announced that the boom operator on his news programme was being fired the next morning (for which he took a clout on the head from the angry soon to be ex employee). He seems to command excessive levels of power within Channel 6, even having a segment of the news programme to air his own (usually highly
Reactionary ) opinions on current issues called ''My Two Cents''. Despite all of this, he has won a string of media awards, but is most proud of his unspecified trophy from
Del Monte .
Brockman has a preteen daughter and a preteen son and has jealously mentioned his sister, who is a
White House correspondent for
CNN .
At one point, he was fired for using the acronym "SOB" on air but was later rehired for unspecified reasons (possibly because Channel 6 only had
Bumblebee Man as a replacement, as evidenced when
Bart stole Kent's Danish pastry for
Krusty The Klown ).
On one notable episode, Brockman won the multi-million-dollar ($130 million) state lottery jackpot. He has remained a news anchor because he is under contract, though he also admitted that he likes making $500,000-a-year. He also mentioned to traffic reporter
Arnie Pie that he made some smart investments when Pie complained about the size of Brockman's house.
In a flashback to the
1960s , we see that when he started out in television his name was suggesting
Jewish ancestry.
He owns a
Collie named Jessica.
He is also characterized by using news-speak in everyday language, for example, "This just in, go to hell!"
It is said that Brockman was based on Dunphy and fellow L.A. News legend
Hal Fishman . There are episodes, however, in which he appears to emulate both
Ted Koppel and
Walter Cronkite . He also bears a resemblance to
Ted Baxter , the airhead news anchor from ''
Mary Tyler Moore '', played by
Ted Knight .
Brockman drives a blue
Mercedes-Benz S420 , which he can be seen washing in the opening credits of ''Eye on Springfield''.
In one of ''The Simpsons'' comic books, Kent Brockman is accosted by some extortionists, who threaten to reveal that his real name is Brock Kentman.
Brockman's most famous phrase, repeated in various guises on internet message boards and within popular culture is "
And I, For One, Welcome Our New Insect Overlords ", is used on the episode where Brockman transmits live footage from the space shuttle cabin in which
Homer has clumsily released thousands of ants into zero gravity. A lone ant drifts by the news camera, and Brockman's hillarious overreaction is to announce that Earth will soon be invaded by giant space ants. He continues his broadcast by stating:
"One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves."
Later on in the episode he re-pledges his allegiance back to planet Earth.
Brockman's other well known phrase is "I've said it before and I'll say it again. Democracy doesn't WORK!"
