We’re coming up on three decades that The Simpsons has been on the air, which seems like a long time but humanity’s been telling and retelling Greek myths for centuries, so apparently some stories just never get old. Anyway, Smithers is gay now, everyone, alert the media.
This isn’t exactly a new development for the character — remember when he got in a tiff with John Waters on an episode in like 1997? But now he’s going to be openly gay and dating and not exclusively lusting after Mr. Burns. In other words, a well-adjusted normal adult gay man. Smithers, it’s like we don’t even know who you are anymore.
And who do we have to thank for this transformation? A 21-year-old college student who came out to his dad a few years ago. That dad was Rob LaZebnik, and he’s a writer for the show. Rob incorporated elements of his son’s queer experience into the Smithers story, which must seem awfully strange to young Johnny. Imagine seeing details of your own life reflected in a character created almost a decade before you were born. (Johnny says he’s more of a Lisa than a Smithers, and oh honey, yes, all Martin Princes want to believe they are Lisa.)
Apparently, during the script-writing process, Johnny would get emails from his dad asking things like, “how does Grindr work?” (Grindr, if you’re unfamiliar, is a smartphone app that generates texts reading “hi” and “sup” at random intervals.)
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Anyway from all accounts Rob is a super cool dad who is deeply involved in his kid’s life, and so the whole thing is just super-sweet. Having visible gay characters on TV is generally a good thing, now that we’re past the dark days of shows like Seriously Dude I’m Gay, so thumbs up to everyone involved.
Now, if only a few children of Wrestlemania writers would come out.
DCguy
Wouldn’t this have been a big deal say…..20 or 25 years ago? There have been shows on TV like The Real O’Neils and The New Normal that had fully gay characthers.
EHegedus
And here’s the full story. It’s very touching:
http://nypost.com/2016/04/01/simpsons-smithers-gay-reveal-was-inspired-by-the-writers-son/
Stached1
This has been obvious for decades about the Simpsons’ character Smithers.
Captain Obvious
@DCguy: Sadly both shows suck and focus way too much on being gay rather than building fully fleshed out characters of substance with interesting storylines.
We have better shows with inclusion like How to Get Away with Murder and Empire that show us without making being gay all there is to us.
DCguy
@Captain Obvious:
Wow, thank you Hollywood bigotry. It’s ok to have a sitcom about straight people dating or being “straight” but ick, don’t have ones where the gays are, you know…..TOO gay.
Wonder what Sex in the City would have been like if those women just weren’t all about being so Straight all the time.
Very self hating of you.
GC1985
@Captain Obvious: Captain Oblivious at his finest. Always saying being gay isn’t important and shouldn’t be the focus. Never mind that bigotry remains and an entire political party remains committed at destroying and undermining our equality. Oh but we should all listen to Captain Oblivious. Obviously we need to blend in more and shut up. If we only were to listen to Captain a oblivious we would be decades behind the present. But it is better that way… To stay quiet and hidden. That is what this bogus captain does all his life.
You are one of the most self hating repugnant people on here. I am eternally grateful most do not think like you, or else we would be in serious trouble.
o.codone
Gay men spending their days talking about cartoon characters.
“Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour”. Matthew 25:36.