Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Clausen won two Emmy awards for his Simpsons work

A man who wrote music for The Simpsons for 27 years is suing its makers for allegedly firing him due to his age.

Composer Alf Clausen, 78, said he was sacked from the show in 2017.

In his claim, Clausen states he was informed that the show was "taking the music in a different direction".

"This reason was pretextual and false," the claim reads. "Instead, plaintiff's unlawful termination was due to perceived disability and age." The BBC has approached Fox for a comment.

At the time of Clausen's departure, the show's bosses stated they "tremendously value[d] Alf Clausen's contributions" to the show.

According to trade paper Variety, Clausen was replaced by Bleeding Fingers Music, a music production company co-founded by Russell Emanuel, Hans Zimmer and Steve Kofsky.

Clausen's suit says his replacement "was substantially younger in age, who was not only paid less, but was not disabled".

The legal action, filed on Monday in Los Angeles, does not specify Clausen's disability.

Clausen scored more than 550 episodes of The Simpsons and was nominated for 23 Emmy awards for his work on the show.

His two wins, shared with lyricist Ken Keeler, came for songs that appeared in episodes first aired in 1997 and 1998 respectively.

The lawsuit names Fox, its new owner Disney and James L Brooks' Gracie Films as defendants.

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