So it turns out that "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening was joking when he said Fox News had threatened to sue his show over its use of a fake news ticker on an episode last season.

Appearing on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" last week, Groening told host Terry Gross that Fox News was upset about the fake ticker, which said things like "JFK Posthumously Joins Republican Party," that appeared in an episode of "The Simpsons" in March.

"Fox fought against it and said that they would sue the show," Groening said. "And we called their bluff because we didn't think that Rupert Murdoch would pay for Fox to sue itself."

Groening's comments came as a surprise to Fox News, which says it never even considered litigating. "We were all scratching our heads and thought it was hysterical," spokesman Rob Zimmerman tells the Washington Post. "It's not the first time we've been spoofed, you know."

Producers of "The Simpsons" issued a statement Thursday (Oct. 30) saying echoing those sentiments, and apparently all is well between the two cogs in the News Corp. machine. "Matt was being satirical. ...," the statement says. "We regret any confusion."