Smithers to finally officially come out

The sexual orientation of Smithers, loyal assistant to curmudgeonly billionaire Montgomery Burns, is no surprise to avid watchers of “The Simpsons“.

Although the audience, and most other characters, have known for years, his boss certainly does not.

It’s wonderful it’s taken this long, with The Simpsons having explored just about every plot strand you can think of in its 575 episodes.

Most of Springfield’s residents are aware of Waylon Smithers’ feelings for elderly Monty Burns…

When Smithers does officially come out, he’ll have plenty of LGBT company in Springfield. Here are some of the entries.

Smithers has always been infatuated with his boss, but has never worked up the courage to tell him. Check out some memorable Smithers scenes below. A half-naked image of Burns appears on screen, with some spliced sound bites saying, ‘Hello.

Mr Burns, right and Mr Smithers share a special moment on The Simpsons.

“We actually do a lot with Smithers this year”, he continued.

Fortunately, he had a change of heart by July and is now returning for the 27th and 28th seasons of the Fox network show.

That title belongs to Marge Simpson’s chain-smoking sister, Patty Bouvier, who came out in a 2005 episode, which The New York Times noted included a reworded Harry Belefonte tune, “Gay-o, it’s Ok-o”.

This season, The Simpsons gay character will be…

However, the show’s executive producer Al Jean revealed earlier this week that Mr Smithers’ journey to self acceptance would be a big part of the new season.

Jean also spoke about Marge going to jail in the season finale, and a changeup of ownership in the Kwik E Mart. According to Jean, the storyline was inspired by a column written by Tuesday’s with Morrie writer Mitch Albom.