The song appears in the episode 'A Streetcar Named Marge', in which the residents of Springfield stage a musical version of the Tennessee Williams play 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.
The song about New Orleans features further insults, with lines claiming it is the "home of pirates, drunks and whores" and "tacky over-priced souvenir stores".
A viewer complained to Ofcom about the scheduling of the episode, on September 7 this year. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, causing widespread flooding and chaos, and resulting the deaths of hundreds of the city's residents.
Channel 4 apologised for the scheduling of the episode. It explained to Ofcom that it checked repeat programmes to ensure, among other things, that recent events have not rendered something offensive, which was previously innocent.
However, because the reference to New Orleans was incidental to the story, rather than a key part of it and was not picked up on in the review process. It said it was updating its processes to ensure this did not happen in future.
The station broadcast an apology before the episode of 'The Simpsons' screened on September 9, and made an apology directly to the viewer who had complained. Ofcom said it considered the matter to be resolved.
It is not the first time the episode, which was first broadcast in 1992, has caused offence. The people of New Orleans were upset at references to their city, and the producers of 'The Simpsons' duly apologised in the next episode, via the medium of Bart Simpson's chalkboard in the opening credits.
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