'The Simpsons' Features Dark Opening Credits Designed by Graffiti Artist Banksy

Producers for the cartoon “The Simpsons” debuted an opening-credit sequence Sunday designed by British artist Banksy,depicting the show’s behind-the-scenes production as dark, abusive and sad.

The Banksy-designed opening features laborers working in dark conditions, tiny animals being thrown into a shredder to make “Bart” figures, and a sickly unicorn punching center holes in “The Simpsons” DVDs.

In addition, a shot of 20th Century Fox’s headquarters with barbed wires can be seen in the distance.

Longtime "Simpsons" producer Al Jean says it was all in good fun.

Jean joked to Tarts, "This is what happens when you outsource."

And in an interview with New York Times, Jean said “I saw the film Banksy directed ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop,’ and I thought, oh, we should see if he would do a main title for the show, a couch gag … We didn’t have any agenda.”

Of the video’s sweat-shop theme, Jean said, “ I have to say, it’s very fanciful, far-fetched. None of the things he depicts are true. The statement should be self-evident, but I will emphatically state it.”

Jean also joked, “I think we should always be able to say the holes in our DVDs are poked by unhappy unicorns.”

While a YouTube clip of the opening was available for most of Monday, it was pulled from several outlets -- including the New York Times website -- in the afternoon.

The sequence's mastermind, Banksy, is an international figure in street art who is known for traveling the world and anonymously leaving his signature pieces in public areas while refusing to reveal his real name.