The Simpsons kills off character

Los Angeles - Krusty the Clown's father has been killed off in The Simpsons.

In an episode which aired in the US last this past Monday night, viewers saw Krusty's dad die ending months of speculation as to which character was going to meet his maker in the long-running cartoon.

Discussing the death, the show's executive producer Al Jean told BBC Radio 1: "The title of the episode is 'Clown of the Dumps' and when I announced it people were going '*gasp* you're killing Krusty!' I was like, 'Wait, in the dumps means you're sad.' It was very strange."

The fatality of Rabbi Hyman Krustofski took place in the FOX comedy's season premiere - which is due to air in the UK later this year - dramatically opening the show's 26th series.

The 53-year-old creative - who first began working on the show in 1989 - found it amusing when he heard that fans feared that Homer Simpson may be the doomed character.

He said: "The character that dies is Krusty's father and he's sad about it and we explore their relationship and that was actually the way it was always conceived.

"It was funny how even when it was trying to just tell the truth, people would always get it wrong, 'It's homer isn't it! You're killing Homer!' "

When asked if he would ever consider killing off the oafish Simpsons patriarch, he joked: "No, I'd be fired!"