Trust but Clarify/References

Cultural references

 * The episode title is a reference to the phrase "".
 * The Itchy and Scratchy episode "Mousetrapping a Murderer" is a parody of Netflix's series .
 * The story is a reference to, a man arrested for the murder of a female photographer in 2005.
 * The Late Late Late Show with Jimmy Jimmy is a parody of the ' and ' shows. His name is a reference to both Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel.
 * The "Talking Heads Sing Talking Heads" segment is a parody of the video "", with Kent Brockman taking on the white-suited appearance and performing actions of David Byrne in that video.
 * Grampa references the, and.
 * Kent Brockman mentions Nelson Mandela and the Mandela Effect, the and Bill O'Reilly.
 * Marge reads a book titled Potboiler! The Thrilling Art of Making Great Soup, a reference to books.
 * Marge references .
 * Dancing with the Press is a reference to .
 * Lenny references Katy Perry.
 * BizzFad is a parody of.
 * An article writer at BizzFad references 100 actors who were never considered for James Bond.
 * "" by Frank Sinatra plays when Homer and Marge walk inside Springfield Mall.
 * The cause of Kent Brockman getting fired is a reference to NBC chairman Brian Williams' firing for misrepresenting events which occurred while he was covering the in 2003.
 * In the Former Anchor Support Group meeting, one of the former anchors speaks in a manner very similar to former anchor  (the one talking about "elocution exercises", a reference to the fact that Brokaw's voice sounded a bit slurred at times.) Dan Rather is also at the meeting: his time as  anchor ended when a story he did alleging that George W. Bush had not reported for his  service used documents that appeared to be faked.
 * The opening theme for Kent Brockman's "Apology of the Century" was taken from the first few bars of the Sunrise portion of the Richard Strauss tone poem .
 * Kent Brockman admits in his apology of the century that he was not present when leader  was taken out, nor did he even see the film about it, the latter referring to either  or the TV film.

Continuity

 * Homer asks if was fired. ("The Kid Is All Right")
 * Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl appear in the opening sequence. ("Treehouse of Horror X")
 * Kent Brockman was already fired before. ("You Kent Always Say What You Want")
 * Coincidentally, he also was replaced by Arnie Pye in the aforementioned episode.
 * This is the third time he was fired ("Krusty Gets Kancelled"). Unlike the previous ones, his firing had nothing to do with foul language he uttered on camera.
 * Tibor Jankovsky was previously mentioned as a Power Plant employee who couldn't speak any English. ("Marge Gets a Job") This episode shows that Tibor has learned some English since that episode.
 * Both Nelson and Milhouse mention that they've kissed Lisa. ("Lisa's Date with Density", "Homer Scissorhands")

Trivia

 * The blackboard text makes reference to the episode being the 601st episode of the show.

Goofs

 * When Homer puts his suit in the closet, his shirts went from white to gray.
 * The vials inside the box Lisa stole from Krusty's factory change between scenes.