Image Credit: Noel Vasquez/WireImage.com; FoxDid Usher rip off an old episode of The Simpsons for his smash hit “OMG”? Probably not. But as the morning DJs at Jackson, Miss.’s Y101.7 radio discovered earlier this year, Usher’s tune sounds amusingly similar in places to a Christmas carol that Homer Simpson attempted to compose in a 2003 episode of the animated Fox sitcom.
A YouTube clip put together by the Y101.7 DJs has been making the Internet rounds today with words like “plagiarism” in the headlines. That’s a little silly. The clip presents just a couple of short lines from each song that share similar cadences. We’re talking about “pow-pow-pow/wow-oh-wow” versus “wow-wow-wow/now-now-now” – much more likely a random coincidence than any kind of conscious or unconscious theft. It’s pretty funny to juxtapose these parts of the two songs out of context, but that’s about it.
Right? Check out the YouTube clip for yourself after the jump and sound off in the comments.
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Usher didn’;t rip anybody off, cause he just does what his hundreds of writers and producers tell him to do. His PRODUCERS and SONGWRITERS might have riped homer off, but not Usher, Usher is just a puppet with a HUGE nose!
What do his looks have to do with anything?
Bigger rip-off than that Madonna/Jessica Simpson controversy!
An even bigger rip off is Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” which totally sounds like it ripped off “Eye in the Sky” by the Alan Parson’s Project.
I doubt the writer of Usher’s OMG listened to Homer’s song and thought “This would be a great single!” It’s probably just a coincidence.
that clip just made me realize how horrible Usher’s song is
I see the connection, but I bet Usher has more important stuff to do then watch a seven year old Simpsons episode and think “That’d be a great song!”. It doesn’t make any sense.
Sure, maybe he didn’t do it on purpose, but the fact that it does sound exactly like a song on the simpsons, that HOMER made up, how much time do you think he spent making the a top notch single?
Yeah, sure, important stuff – how to earn another mln with horrible song.
Song sucks by the way.
You be surprise how many rip-off song out there..
oh no! here go hell come!
LMAO!
Uhh I think this was just a radio gag not to be taken seriously, but you know how people will try to make something out of nothing. It’s actually cute that they even found that one Simpsons clip considering how long the show has been on the air.
is it really that serious?
Wow, everybody who commented above me has a stick up their butt. I think this is hilarious.
Can I just say that I think Justin Timberlake has a huge, penis-shaped nose.
LOL, lighten up people.
This is silly. Britney’s I’m A Slave 4 U, ripped off Philly’s Most Wanted’s Please Don’t Mind which both ripped off Vanity 6′s Nasty Girl. Katy Perry’s California Gurls sounds like Ke$ha’s Tik Tok. Beyonce’s yelling on the chorus of Green Light sounds like Amerie’s One Thing. Beyonce’s Diva sounds like Kelis’s Aww S***. Chris Brown’s Deuces rips off Rihanna’s Te Amo while his Yeah 3X rips off Calvin Harris’ I’m Not Alone. And Estelle’s Fall In Love rips off her own American Boy… My point, there are FAR MORE substantial musical rip offs out there. Glad EW and the author of this article knows this… Shame some commenters on the site don’t.
Yeah, but none of them involve HOMER SIMPSON. C’mon, man! Find the funny in life. It might make your bowel movements less stressful.
I know that fool. I was mad at the commenters who can’t see it was a joke.
Dude…this is supposed to be FUNNY. Easy does it.
WELL SAID! Don’t forget songs from our childhood, The ABC’s and Twinkle Twinkle Lil Star… IF it’s a rip off, I bet it was by mistake & unknown till now. Someone probably had a beat in their head, wrote words to it and made OMG, not remembering where the beat came from… That simple
That Usher song is horrible – and probably without a hint of irony, unfortunately.
Of course, this carol ultimately led Homer to write the hauntingly beautiful “Everybody Hates Ned Flanders”.
I think it’s far more likely that the radio station played the bit in jest and Usher’s producers are pushing the “plagiarism headlines” to try and keep him in the public consciousness. Stories like this are little more than free advertisement for Usher’s brand. That is, of course, assuming none of his producers paid EW to write this dreck.