Futurama star John DiMaggio has slammed fans who complain the sci-fi show has become too “topical.”
The 12th season landed on Hulu on Monday to mixed reviews from critics and viewers. The animation’s return also reignited a long-standing debate among Futurama fans about whether the show focuses too much on current cultural discourse—a complaint creator Matt Groening’s other big hit, The Simpsons, has also faced.
DiMaggio, who voices the robot Bender and other characters in Futurama, told Newsweek that detractors should “just zip it.”
“You know, people always like, ‘It’s not as good as the first couple of seasons,'” he said. “It’s the same people [behind Futurama]. Same writers, same everything. Just people think they know everything.”
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David Herman, who voices many of Futurama’s beloved characters including Scruffy the Janitor, Mayor Poopenmayer and Roberto, agrees.
“It’s always been so topical,” Herman told Newsweek. “It’s always been social parody. It’s always been about the moment that we’re in, that’s science fiction in general.”
The duo specifically called out Reddit users for their comments about the show’s storylines.
“It continues to do that this season, so if people don’t like it, take a walk,” DiMaggio said.
Recreating Bender’s iconic catchphrase, the 55-year-old actor told critics to “bite my shiny metal a**.”
“They can jump in the lake. They could fly a kite,” the comedy star added.
Season 12 satirizes several pop cultural hits and fads of the past few years including NFTs, Fyre Festival and Netflix’s survival thriller Squid Game.
Some critics have praised the storylines. Collider called season 12 “comedy gold,” while Gizmodo said it’s still the Futurama that fans “know and love.”
However, others are less enthused. The Verge criticized Futurama for an “uneven season” that feels as if “it’s missing what originally made the show so special,” while IGN said showrunners have an “obsession with the talking points of the recent past.”
DiMaggio and Herman don’t agree with the idea that Futurama has changed its approach to storytelling since joining Hulu. The series was revived by the streaming service in 2022 following a 10-year hiatus.
“[Futurama] reflects the times and you know, I mean we’re living in kind of some funky a** times right now,” DiMaggio said, adding that the new season was not afraid to “get a little dark.”
“There’s comedy in there too,” he continued. “There’s funny in dark sometimes, you know?”