Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus to star in The Simpsons series

by Priyo Australia | July 26, 2010 8:12 pm

DHAKA: Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, who pioneered the concept of microcredit successfully in Bangladesh, is set to star in a special episode of popular American TV series ‘The Simpsons’.

“He (Yunus) is set to appear in one of the Simpsons episodes,” spokesperson of his Grameen Bank Lamya Morshed told PTI. She said the episode was ready to go on air as Yunus’s voice was already recorded in Dhaka.

Grameen later also issued a statement saying the episode would be aired in October 2010 in the United States “focusing on Grameen microcredit, and feature Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus.”

The statement said Emmy Award-winner Yeardley Smith who voiced Lisa’s character in the serial was currently in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka for a week-long visit to study Grameen Bank and other initiatives of Yunus.

It said Smith was a long-time admirer of Yunus. Smith visited and provided support to Grameen microcredit programs in Haiti and other countries.

The Simpsons, which currently holds the Guinness World Record for the number of guest stars it featured in the series ranging from pop stars to politicians like former British premier Tony Blair or scientists like Steven Hawking.

The Simpsons has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 25 Primetime Emmy Awards, 26 Annie Awards and a Peabody Award.

Yunus, 70 and his Grameen Bank were honoured with the Nobel peace award in 2006 for their efforts to lift people out of extreme poverty through offering microcredit.

The Grameen Bank documents said starting by lending just USD 27 to a handful of women in 1976 in northeastern port city of Chittagong it now became a billion-dollar micro-credit venture with 8.3 million borrowers alone in Bangladesh.

Yunus criticises the global banking system for deliberately excluding the poor while he advocates for a more inclusive global banking system that lends money to the ultra-poor who lack collateral.

The Simpsons, currently holds the Guinness World Record for Most Guest Stars Featured in a TV Series.

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