{"id":3855,"date":"2021-12-03T14:06:24","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T14:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/?p=3855"},"modified":"2021-12-03T14:06:27","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T14:06:27","slug":"how-the-simpsons-made-smithers-into-a-three-dimensional-gay-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/?p=3855","title":{"rendered":"How The Simpsons Made Smithers Into a Three-Dimensional Gay Character"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After 33 seasons on the iconic animated series The Simpsons<\/em>, Smithers finally has a boyfriend! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The character, who was the butt of many jokes over the years, only came out as gay in 2016. He\u2019s been stag ever since \u2013 until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Out<\/a><\/em>, Smithers is \u201cswept off his feet and taken around the world on a whirlwind romance by billionaire fashion mogul Michael De Graaf (voiced by the veteran actor Victor Garber).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make the dialogue truly authentic, writer Rob Lazebnik enlisted the help of his gay son, Johnny, to get the lingo just right. On an episode of Gayest Episode Ever<\/em><\/a>, Johnny reveals to co-hosts Drew Mackie and Glen Lakin his dad had to ask the basic mechanics of THAT dating app. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat text is one of the funniest things I\u2019ve ever received, period,\u201d he said. \u201cI think every gay man\u2019s dream is for their father to text them that out of the blue asking how Grindr works. \u2026 I think my dad\u2019s specific question was like, \u2018Do you swipe on Grindr?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Absolutely not, you don\u2019t.\u2019 And that is the kind of thing that a straight person would throw in as a joke, something like \u2018Oh, He swiped me on Grindr,\u2019 and then a gay person watching it would be like, \u2018I feel so alienated by this content because you clearly don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.\u2019 So I was really happy to be included and really grateful that I was able to lend a little more authenticity to the world of gay that they were creating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"johnnyroblazebnik_robjohnnylazebnik_750x500.jpeg\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The quadruplet also discussed the evolution of Smithers\u2019 character over the decades and atoning for some of the homophobic sins of its past. Earlier this year, Gayest Episode Ever<\/em> shared a supercut of all the LGBTQ+ moments on the show<\/a> \u2013 and it doesn\u2019t paint the writers in the best light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, Rob feels like The Simpsons<\/em> is on the road to right some of those wrongs. \u201cWhat\u2019s unusual is to be on a show that\u2019s been on for 33 years. It\u2019s like us and 60 Minutes. How do we let\u2019s reach back and look at Morley Safer\u2019s shows from 1961? So it\u2019s an unusual situation, for sure. I think with an episode like this, it\u2019s very cool to be part of the evolution of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As someone who truly grew up immersed in the series, Johnny agrees and even dipped into that history. \u201cSomething that I was really excited about was being able to reference old gay stuff from The Simpsons<\/em>. One of my favorite things is in the background, Smithers has a poster for Sold Separately, the Malibu Stacey musical. That musical is one of my favorite bits ever and actually, it\u2019s really special because it was in my dad\u2019s first full episode of the show. Smithers and our family have this weird storied history at this point. My dad wrote Smithers\u2019 \u2018coming out\u2019 episode and now this episode with me, and it\u2019s really cool to be part of this evolution of Smithers into a three-dimensional gay character.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Rob believes the show and Smithers\u2019 love story is \u201creflective of the country\u2019s growth,\u201d he said. \u201cOver time, television has been really a part of that evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to the podcast here<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After 33 seasons on the iconic animated series The Simpsons, Smithers finally has a boyfriend!  The character, who was the butt of many jokes over the years, only came out as gay in 2016. He\u2019s been stag ever since \u2013 until now. According to Out, Smithers is \u201cswept off his feet and taken around the world on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}