This week, The Simpsons held a mirror to upstate New York with a cringeworthy musical parody of life here.

The reflection wasn’t pretty. But was it pretty accurate? Are upstaters conservative, overweight, underachieving alcoholics mired in mediocrity? In other words, do we embody Homer Simpson?

Let’s fact-check the lyrics and accompanying images of the song, “Upstate New York,” against the best available data to see if the roasting was deserved.

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The ditty, which Homer sang to an off-key rendition of “New York, New York,” referenced in words or pictures nine upstate counties — Erie, Monroe, Onondaga, Oneida, Schenectady, Essex, Sullivan, Ulster and Orange.

It went like this:

Start watchin’ Fox News / Stop watchin’ your weight / There’s no fancy part of it, upstate New York.

They’re fond of their booze / Hot wing sauce is great / I’m gonna clog my heart in it, upstate New York.

I want to sleep in a city that never wakes / And find I’m fittin’ right in, one of the gang, par for the course.

The Kodak plant’s closed / But I’m a longin’ to stay / And go on disability in upstate New York.

Can’t make it anywhere, but I can make it there / I love you so, upstate New York.

Was Homer right? He’ll get two points if he was. If not, the points go to upstate.

'Start watchin’ Fox News'

Is Homer spreading fake news with this line? Maybe.

Fox News Channel’s reign as the most-watched cable network is unquestioned.

But no ratings service publicizes viewership by state or region. The best Nielsen Media Research offers are raw numbers that show Fox News draws between 2.5 million and 3.3 million viewers during prime time.

That amounts to less than 1 percent of the population in the United States tuning in. Those viewers aren’t all in upstate New York.

Examining it another way, though, a Stanford University study found that Fox News viewers are far more likely to vote Republican. By that measure, upstaters may be glued to the network.

Upstate counties overwhelmingly voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, but four of the nine counties The Simpsons targeted were blue.

Let’s call it a draw.

Homer: 1, Upstate: 1.

'Stop watchin’ your weight'

Score two points for upstate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers an adult overweight if their body-mass index tops 25. By that standard, a whopping 72 percent of adults are overweight, according to the CDC. That includes Homer.

By contrast, just 61 percent of New Yorkers are overweight, according to vital statistics kept by the New York State Department of Health. Upstate residents are more likely to be overweight that downstate residents, but not at a proportion higher than the national average.

Homer: 1, Upstate: 3.

'There’s no fancy part of it, upstate New York'

Homer delivered this line against a backdrop of images depicting crumbling infrastructure, from decaying bridges, to giant potholes, and leaky water towers.

In its latest infrastructure report card, the American Society of Engineers gave New York a C- overall. But its bridges earned a D+, its roads got a D-, and its drinking water was given a C.

About a third of all bridges in the state are considered “structurally deficient” under the state Department of Transportation’s seven-point rating system. Likewise, a third of all major highways have been rated to be in “fair” or “poor” condition.

But while there are countless dumpy upstate locales upstate, to say there’s nothing “fancy” is false. There are plenty of opulent places to get gouged in the lap of luxury. Look no further than the Turning Stone Casino in Oneida County or Mohonk Mountain House in Ulster County.

Let’s split the difference.

Homer: 2, Upstate: 4.

'They’re fond of their booze'

Homer was right about this one.

About one in six Americans, or 17 percent, reported binge drinking — consuming five or more drinks on an occasion for men, and four or more for women — in the last month, according to the CDC.

That figure is only slightly higher — 18.3 percent — in New York. But it jumps to 20 percent, or one in five people, in the upstate counties The Simpsons chided.

Homer: 4, Upstate: 4.

'Hot wing sauce is great'

No argument there.

The concept of dousing fried chicken wings in peppy hot sauce was born in 1964 at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, where Homer was depicted chowing down with a state trooper.

While chicken wing eaters in other regions of the country have gravitated toward new flavors, hot sauce remains the flavor of choice in the Northeast, where one in three wing eaters prepare their wings with it, according to a recent National Chicken Council’s annual Chicken Wing Report.

Homer: 6, Upstate: 4.

'I’m gonna clog my heart in it, upstate New York'

When it comes to heart disease, New York is a leader.

Death rates nationally from heart disease average 197 per 100,000 people, according to the CDC. In the nine upstate counties referenced by Homer, the number was 297, according to the New York State Department of Health.

Homer: 8, Upstate: 4.

'I want to sleep in a city that never wakes / And find I’m fittin’ right in, one of the gang, par for the course'

These lines were sung over a variety of images, including a rapidly declining digital population sign in Utica, a closed storefront, Homer cheering the Buffalo Bills in an empty New Era Field, and Homer graduating from Mohawk Valley Community College.

We’re going to call this another draw.

Like other upstate cities, Utica’s population has been in a free fall for decades after hovering around 100,000 through the middle of the last century. Today it stands at about 60,000. And upstate downtowns big and small are littered with empty storefronts.

If there’s one NFL team that has a claim on sellout hardship compared to the rest of the league, it’s the Buffalo Bills. Analyses have been done that show it is nearly twice as hard for the Bills to achieve a sellout today than it was 50 years ago based on its population/stadium density.

Yet, the Bills averaged 65,000 fans per game last season, ranking 21st in the league. Not great, but not bad.

As for Homer’s ability to earn a degree from MVCC, we’re skeptical.

MVCC students need a high school diploma to matriculate. Homer didn’t have his until The Simpsons' fourth season in 1993, when he discovered upon attending his “Class of 1974” high school reunion that he had failed to graduate.

Homer returned to school and got his diploma. But considering it took him 19 years to get one, it’s doubtful Homer has the intellect or fortitude to earn an MVCC degree.

Homer: 9, Upstate: 5.

'The Kodak plant’s closed'

This lyric was sung against a backdrop of people taking selfies as a Kodak plant imploded.

Yup, that happened. More than once. Since 1995, Eastman Kodak has razed more than 80 buildings in the former Kodak Park, including six by implosion, the most recent being in 2015.

The five other buildings were imploded in 2007, often before a crowd of spectators. More than 1,000 people gathered at one ceremony, many of whom captured the moment with non-Kodak digital cameras.

Homer: 11, Upstate: 5.

'But I’m a longin’ to stay'

The line implies that no matter how bad things get, upstaters want to stay put and stick it out. That’s not entirely true.

There are, of course, residents whose familial ties and the low cost of housing upstate keep them grounded. But outmigration in New York is trending, and the most pronounced population declines are seen in upstate counties.

Between 2010 and 2018, 46 of New York’s 62 counties reported population losses, census figures released last month showed. People who leave say they were driven out by property taxes that are among the highest in the nation, poor job prospects and inclement weather.

Homer: 13, Upstate: 5.

'And go on disability, in upstate New York'

This one is a draw.

Homer sang this line as he hung a disabled parking permit on his rearview mirror. While it is disturbingly easy to get a disabled parking permit from most municipalities, qualifying for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits is another matter.

SSDI is a federal program for adults who have worked and are now unable to work due to a disability. Under those restrictions, Homer wouldn’t qualify.

What Homer really means is that he wants to join the throngs of public assistance recipients in upstate.

Three million New York residents — about one in seven people — receive food stamps, and 570,000 are supported by another form of public assistance, according to the State Comptroller’s Office.

The majority of them, however, live in New York City. The average monthly number of food stamp recipients there is 1.7 million, while the average number of public assistance recipients is 356,000, according to the comptroller.

That disparity helps fuel the perception upstate that tax dollars generated by upstate workers prop up the downstate poor. But nothing could be further from the truth.

It has been proved time and again, including in studies by the Center for Governmental Research in Rochester and the Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York at Albany, that downstate keeps upstate afloat.

New York City sends far more in taxes to Albany than it receives in state-funded expenditures. Upstate, by contrast, gets significantly more than it gives.

That’s right, upstate is the welfare case.

Homer: 14, Upstate: 6.

'Can’t make it anywhere, but I can make it there / I love you so, upstate New York'

The song concludes with Homer sporting the sash of the mayor of Oriskany, a small village in Oneida County, followed by lake effect snow blanketing downtown Buffalo in an instant.

Buffalo is the latest recipient of the Golden Snowball Award, an honor bestowed annually on the upstate city that receives the most snowfall in a season. We’ll give Homer a point for that.

But Homer as the mayor of Oriskany?

"I'm about as close to Homer as you're going to get," Oriskany Mayor Clifford O'Connor said with a laugh. "But, no, he couldn't be mayor. It takes a special person and it's not Homer."

Homer hasn't put in the time.

O’Connor, who was elected mayor just last month, spent 20 years as a village trustee and 11 years as the Oriskany highway superintendent. His mother was the longtime village clerk.

"You've got to have a little sense of humor once in a while," O'Connor said.

Final score: Homer: 15, Upstate: 7.

D’oh!

David Andreatta is a Democrat and Chronicle columnist. He can be reached at dandreatta@gannett.com.