The Simpsons’ Gay Character Waylon Smithers Gets A Boyfriend

It took 712 episodes and 33 seasons, but it’s finally happened. Waylon  Smithers, the hapless personal assistant to the evil Montgomery Burns  on The Simpsons, has a boyfriend…and no it’s not Mr. Burns. 

Smithers, who has long harboured an unrequited love for the crusty  nuclear plant owner, has found love at last, with a billionaire fashion  designer Michael De Graff, voiced by Victor Garber. 

Episode co-writer Johnny LaZebnik tweeted, “I can finally come out of  the closet as a d’ohmosexual. Watch a very gay episode of  The Simpsons on November 21, written by me and my dad.” 

The episode, titled Portrait Of A Lackey On Fire, finds lovelorn Smithers  falling for De Graaf, however the relationship is teased to potentially  “destroy Springfield.” 

i can finally come out of the closet as a d’ohmosexual. watch a very gay episode of @TheSimpsons on november 21, written by me and my dad 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/RqlMcetIUv

— Johnny LaZebnik (@jlazebnik) October 30, 2021

Smithers Is One of The Simpsons’ Longest Running Characters  

The character of Smithers, who came out in the 2016 episode The  Burns Cage, has been voiced by Harry Shearer for more than 33 years.  Simpsons writers have been known to refer to the character of Smithers  as “Burn-sexual.” 

In The Burns Cage, Smithers declares his love for Mr Burns only to be  told “Don’t take this the wrong way. You mean nothing to me. Someone  I give less thought to than the little piece of popcorn stuck in my tooth.” 

Smithers is well-known for his obsession with Malibu Stacy dolls. He  not only has Springfield’s largest collection of the dolls; he also attends  StacyCon in San Diego, writes a newsletter about Malibu Stacey and  wrote a stage musical about her which ran in New Mexico. Smithers played her boyfriend.  

It’s All In The Family  

Rob LaZebnik, who has been a co-executive producer on The  Simpsons since 1999 and written 21 episodes, told The New York Post in 2016 that The Burns Cage, which generated worldwide headlines,  was inspired by his relationship with his son Johnny. 

“I am a Midwestern guy, so I don’t tend to wear my emotions on my  sleeve, but I thought, ‘What better way to tell my son I love him than to write a cartoon about it?’ ” LaZebnik said. “Sometimes TV can have a  real impact on people’s thinking.” 

“He’s unbelievably accepting. We’re as close as a straight dad and a  gay son could be,” Johnny said of his father at the time. 

Speaking with The New York Post, Johnny LaZebnik, who co-wrote The  Portrait of A Lackey On Fire with his father, said: “So often, gay  romances are a subplot or alluded to or shown in some kind of  montage or as a punchline. And what I think I was really excited about,  with this episode, we get to see – without spoiling too much – 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’s like.” 

“That was really special to me to get to highlight characters who are not  punchlines, who are fully formed,” LaZebnik said.  

 Writing Brings Family Together  

Working on the episode together was “spectacular and fulfilling,”  Johnny LaZebnik said.  “We now have this piece of content that we put into the world together  that is a combined brainpower of the two of us.”  

“I know my dad is a comedy writer. I grew up with him – obviously, I  know he’s a funny guy. But actually getting to sit down and write jokes  with him was so much fun. And there were some moments where I was  like, ‘Dad, that’s disgusting, we can’t put that on television,’ which I  didn’t expect to be saying because I’m usually the disgusting one.” 

The elder LaZebnik agreed working together with his son on the new  episode was special. “To be able to work with Johnny on this was, like,  such a dream and to be able to see how truly funny and talented he is  was just, you know, super fun and rewarding,” Rob LaZebnik told The New York Post. 

 Not Everybody Is Thrilled With The Gay Romance

Out actor Victor Garber, who plays De Graaf, told The New York Post, it  is “crucially important that these stories are acknowledged.” 

“It brings back certain feelings I had as a young actor where I couldn’t  be gay,” said Garber, whose extensive credits include Argo, Titanic, and  Alias. 

“It was kind of a reminder of how much things have changed and also  how I’ve evolved,” said Garber, who married Rainer Andreesen in 2015.  “In my journey to find self-acceptance, self-love, it’s a definite  significant part of it.”  

Response to the upcoming episode has been mixed with one person  on Twitter saying, “So the Simpsons is going woke. Surprise, Surprise,”  while LGBTQIA+ activist Dane McFadhen, tweeted “You would think  since its debut in 1989, and 712 episodes, poor Waylon would have  found love in 32 years of programming.”