First they tried to sue Al Franken. But did Fox News Channel really threaten to do the same to the hit animated television series "The Simpsons"?

According to the show's creator, Matt Groening, the answer is "yes."

Groening told National Public Radio that the cable network threatened to sue the show because in one of its episodes, it featured a news crawl that used the Fox News logo.

The crawl highlighted such fake news headlines as "Rupert Murdoch: Terrific Dancer ... Dow down 5000 points ... Study: 92 percent of Democrats are gay ... JFK posthumously joins Republican Party ... Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple ..."

Fox denies it threatened to sue "The Simpsons."

Groening told NPR that the show got away with it this time, but from now on Fox has a new rule saying it can't do it again.

Fox News Channel was recently embroiled in a legal battle with political humorist Franken over his book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."

The cable channel argued Franken's use of the phrase "fair and balanced" in the title mocked the news channel's slogan, which it trademarked five years ago.

But a federal judge in New York ruled Aug. 25 that Fox's claim was "wholly without merit, both factually and legally."

Franken called the ruling a victory for the First Amendment and satirists everywhere -- "even bad satirists."

Fox News Channel dropped its suit against Franken two days later.