A gay Simpsons character is finally ready to come out of the closet, so how will the world react? In an upcoming episode of the hit series, Waylon Smithers plans to announce to his friend and boss, Charles Montgomery “Monty” Burns, that he is homosexual.
A gay Simpsons character has finally decided to come out. In a new interview, Al Jean, the head writer for The Simpsons Season 27, revealed that the time has come for Waylon J. Smithers, Jr., better known as Mr. Smithers, to open up about his sexuality.
The major character will do more than come out as gay, he will also start to question his devotion to his boss, Charles Montgomery “Monty” Burns, (fun fact, Harry Shearer is the voice of both characters), who is the owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and who rarely shows any appreciation for all that he does. According to Jean:
“In Springfield now, most people know he’s gay, but obviously Burns doesn’t. We deal with that in two episodes… We actually do a lot with Smithers this year; he gets fed up with Burns not appreciating him and considers his options.”
As Mr. Jean stated above, the first day Smithers was introduced as the executive assistant to Mr. Burns at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, he was a closeted gay man, he was also black, but the writers rapidly had a change of heart and made him Caucasian instead because it looked wrong to have a minority as some servant.
Smithers, who debuted in the third episode of the first season of The Simpsons in 1990, has always lived as a homosexual, who goes on vacation to a male-only resort and is often spotted at Springfield’s gay village. To further confirm that the character is into members of the same sex – his one-sided relationship with Mr. Burns.
His imaginary romance with his employer has led him to end the brief romance he had with a woman because it was troubling Burns. Here is a bit from the character’s bio:
Smithers is shown to have a passionate and deep love for Mr. Burns, double entendres concerning his homosexuality are made and his sexual orientation has been characterized by the writers of the show as “Burns-sexual”. Mr. Burns has remained largely ignorant of Smithers’ devoted adoration, much to Smithers’ frustration. Burns himself has been involved with several women, Smithers is noticeably disgusted when Burns starts looking for a female companion.Burns, for his part, views Smithers as somewhat of a lackey who will be rewarded by being buried alive with him after he dies.
Other major Simpsons news include the show ending after 30 seasons and Homer and Marge Simpson getting a divorce after 25 years.
