'Simpsons' showrunner fires back at Ted Cruz for using show reference at CPAC

The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean was not impressed when on Thursday (Feb. 22) while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Ted Cruz invoked the cartoon to try and make a point.

While speaking at the Washington, D.C., conference, the Texas senator said, "I think the Democrats are the party of Lisa Simpson and Republicans are happily the party of Homer and Bart and Maggie and Marge," according to reporters in attendance. Not long after, Jean quipped via Twitter, "Ted Cruz says Maggie Simpson would vote for him. I think Ted's the one who could use a pacifier in his mouth."

The Simpsons has taken numerous shots at politicians through the years, including one in particular back in 2000 when the show predicted Donald Trump would be an awful president someday. This is not the first time Cruz has gotten flack for trying to work pop culture references into speeches.

While running for president in 2016, Cruz said on numerous occasions that Trump was the model for the Back to the Future villain, Biff, in the second film.

Both the franchise's screenwriter and Biff actor Thomas Wilson pushed back, saying that was absolutely inaccurate.

The voice of Lisa Simpson, Yeardley Smith, also had some thoughts on Cruz's comparison.