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Bart-Mangled Banner

episode of The Simpsons (S15 E21)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ3222444 ↗
Source-derived summary

"Bart-Mangled Banner" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 16, 2004. The episode was written by John Frink and directed by Steven Dean Moore.

In this episode, Bart accidentally disrespects the American flag, and the situation escalates until the United States hates Springfield and the Simpson family is arrested. The episode received mixed reviews.

Plot

Homer and Marge take the kids to get their shots. Just before Dr. Hibbert is about to inject Bart, he escapes. After a chase through town, Hibbert finally outsmarts Bart, by having Barney (as well as Moe) wear a latex mask, and finally injects him. However, the shot causes Bart's earholes to swell shut as a side effect, making him temporarily deaf and Hibbert also tricks Homer into signing a malpractice waiver.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Bart-Mangled Banner” as episode of The Simpsons (S15 E21). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2004—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2004-05-16. The account is most persuasive where Bart-Mangled, Banner and episode can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as episode of The Simpsons (S15 E21). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3222444. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Bart-Mangled Banner” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.