{"id":1044651,"date":"2021-11-22T15:13:55","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T20:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1044651"},"modified":"2021-11-22T15:13:59","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T20:13:59","slug":"the-simpsons-features-first-gay-love-story-for-smithers-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-simpsons-features-first-gay-love-story-for-smithers-character\/","title":{"rendered":"&#039;The Simpsons&#039; Features First Gay Love Story for Smithers Character"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-simpsons-features-first-gay-love-story-for-smithers-character%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1044651&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/simpsonssmitherskiss1-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Last weekend\u2019s episode of <i>The Simpsons<\/i> featured a gay love story for fan favorite character and Mr. Burns\u2019 personal assistant, Waylon Smithers.<\/p>\n<p>The character of Mr. Smithers (voiced by&nbsp;Harry Shearer) first appeared in the animated series\u2019 third episode in 1990 and has been portrayed as a closeted gay man who has an unrequited love for his nuclear plant boss, Montgomery Burns. Smithers, who ultimately \u201ccame out\u201d in an episode in 2016, was finally featured with a fully realized gay relationship in the Nov. 21 episode entitled, <i>Portrait Of A Lackey On Fire<\/i>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Ahead of its airing, the synopsis of the episode read: \u201cSmithers finds true love with a famous fashion designer, but will his new relationship destroy Springfield?\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"5.5446428571429\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Smithers, we have lift-off. \u1f68\ud83d\ude0d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eE2S3eaCBW\">pic.twitter.com\/eE2S3eaCBW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSimpsons\/status\/1462588510062448643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 22, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Series writer Rob LaZebnik claimed that he was inspired to write the episode by his gay son, Johnny, and the two teamed up to write the script. Johnny later tweeted his delight at seeing his name credited on the show.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"5.8471337579618\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I think it will take me my whole life to accept that this is real. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSimpsons?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheSimpsons<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hN17TE0jN8\">pic.twitter.com\/hN17TE0jN8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Johnny LaZebnik (@jlazebnik) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jlazebnik\/status\/1462587621834592257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 22, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Johnny\u2019s father also tweeted during the episode.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"6.8571428571429\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Many thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mattselman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@mattselman<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSimpsons?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@thesimpsons<\/a> writers and animators for doing amazing work on our gayest episode ever.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rob LaZebnik (@Rlazebnik) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Rlazebnik\/status\/1462594178706067464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 22, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Johnny told the <i>New York Post<\/i> that he was thrilled that the gay love story was the featured plot and not a secondary theme.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo often, gay romances are a subplot or alluded to or shown in some kind of montage or as a punchline,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/11\/11\/the-simpsons-landmark-gay-episode-keeps-it-in-the-family\/\" target=\" _blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> of the episode.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAnd what I think I was really excited about, with this episode, we get to see \u2013 without spoiling too much \u2013 the beginning, middle and who knows how it ends of a gay relationship, of really getting into the nitty-gritty of how gay people date, how they meet, what it\u2019s like,\u201d the younger LaZebnik said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was really special to me to get to highlight characters who are not punchlines, who are fully formed,\u201d Johnny concluded.<\/p>\n<p>Emmy-nominated <i>Alias<\/i> star Victor Garber, who came out as gay in 2012, voiced Mr. Smithers\u2019 gay paramour in the episode.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s crucially important that these stories are acknowledged,\u201d the 72-year-old Garber said of the cartoon episode. \u201cI haven\u2019t played a lot of gay characters, but every time I do it, it brings back certain feelings I had as a young actor where I couldn\u2019t be gay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Warner.Todd.Huston\">facebook.com\/Warner.Todd.Huston<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last weekend\u2019s episode of The Simpsons featured a gay love story for fan favorite character and Mr. Burns\u2019 personal assistant, Waylon Smithers. The character of Mr. Smithers (voiced by\u00a0Harry Shearer) &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1044651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1044651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1044651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1044651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1044651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}