Mr. Smithers's relationship with Mr. Burns has long been a
running gag on
The Simpsons. Smithers is an obedient and sycophantic assistant to Mr. Burns. There have often been strong hints about Smithers's true feelings for his boss, with one of the earliest references being in the season one episode "
The Telltale Head". felt that had Mr. Burns been a woman, then Smithers would not be gay.
David Silverman, a former supervising director has said, "[Smithers] seems to be focused on one particular human, as opposed to anything beyond that. [Rather than being gay], he's sort of 'Burns-sexual'." In a 2006 study conducted by the
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, it was determined that nine of the 679 lead and supporting characters on scripted broadcast television were gay or
lesbian, but Smithers was not included. A list published in 2008 by the same organization included Smithers;
Patty Bouvier,
Marge Simpson's lesbian sister, was included on both lists. ". The censors had issues with the "lump in his bed", which was his knee. Several of the allusions to Smithers's sexuality have turned into battles with the network censors. For example, in Smithers's fantasy of a naked Mr. Burns popping out of a birthday cake in "
Rosebud", the censors had not wanted Mr. Burns to be naked. Another example is "
Marge Gets a Job", which has a dream sequence where Smithers is sleeping and Burns flies through a window. The sequence shows Burns flying towards him and Smithers looking happy, but originally it went on for a few seconds longer. It had to be trimmed down due to scenes that showed "Mr. Burns land[ing] in a particular position on Smithers's anatomy". There were also issues with "the lump in his bed", which the animators said had been drawn as his knee, but the censors had misinterpreted. In the second season, the writers started to enjoy writing about Smithers and Burns' relationship, and the writers often pitched episodes with them as the focus, but many never came to fruition. Mostly in the early seasons, Smithers had a catchphrase, which comes from a recurring joke that Mr. Burns never remembers who
Homer Simpson is. Smithers and Burns would watch Homer (usually over a security camera feed) and Burns would ask, "Who is that man?", to which Smithers would reply, "That's Homer Simpson, sir, one of your [drones, organ banks, carbon blobs, etc.] from sector 7G." Burns would invariably respond, "Simpson, eh?" In September 2015, it was confirmed by Jean that Smithers would come out to Mr. Burns in a
season 27 episode. Though in the end he never came out to Mr. Burns as his attempt was cut short. The episode, "
The Burns Cage", was broadcast the following April and saw Smithers unsuccessfully try to move on from Burns. A writer for British progressive magazine the
New Statesman felt that the episode was a
retcon, making a serious story about the character's homosexuality instead of the previous jokes and innuendo that were now considered homophobic. ==Reception==