“You know me, Marge. I like my beer cold, my TV loud, and my homosexuals flaming!” – Homer Simpson
Happy 20th Anniversary to “Homer’s Phobia”! Original airdate 16 February, 1997.
16
Feb
17
12 Responses to “Quote of the Day”
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These come up in my email inbox with just the first few letters visible; today’s was:
Quote of the Day – “You know me M…”
What fandom level is it to have recognised the quote and episode from just that…?
Probably somewhere around the Genius at Work “magic xylophone” level.
I withdraw my comment. (Eats chocolate)
+10 Wizard Key Points
Which is funny, because John was pretty fruity/campy as it was. He was maybe one wrist-swish away from being “flaming”, but Homer was just being dense, as usual.
I like this episode, but this scene always bugged me. MARGE is the one who seems to start making a big deal about John being gay, or at least frustrated in trying to get Homer to realize that he is, based purely on stereotypes. Then later, she gets after him for his slightly out of character homophobic attitude toward John and his not quite so out of character attitude toward Bart.
This is one of the reasons why Smithers was such a good character. Despite the fact that they kept dropping more and more “hints” (with all the subtlety of an anvil) each season that he was definitely more gay than “Burns-sexual”, they were good at balancing the jokes with more or less making him seem like a normal guy, outside his sycophantic obsession with his boss. It probably helped that he was rather deep in the closet and may have been what they call “straight acting”, but he felt like less of a stereotype than John, even though I like them both. Karl was also a good example of a gay character who seemed like less of a cliche and more of a “real” person. Too bad Zombie Simpsons can’t make queer characters funny or fun anymore, despite the fact that mainstream audiences are much more accepting of them on television.
I always felt like Marge was the one who was being homophobic here also. Besides, she is/was the one who had a problem with Patty being a lesbian (in ZS episode).
Also, what exactly makes the Karl character gay??? I never understood that. Just because he kissed Homer? Hell, even Homer has kissed Flanders on the mouth!
What made Karl (presumably) homosexual, is simply the fact of who voiced the character. Harvey Fierstein was one of the first actors to come out as openly gay, and his acting and writing was frequently related to homosexual issues. Thus, I think most people just assume Karl was also gay.
Did Homer slap him on the ass as well?
The whole joke about his introduction was that Marge didn’t want Homer hiring a female assistant because they found Homer attractive.
If you want character traits spelled out to you, maybe you’d enjoy the show as it is now.
That still doesn’t make the character gay. You’re insinuating here. I have to agree with Frink on this one — that people assumed the character is/was gay because of who voiced him. When I first watched the episode, and even subsequently airings after, nothing ever jumped out at me that the guy was gay.
Do your research, guys:
https://deadhomersociety.com/2009/10/29/harvey-fierstein-springfield-hero/
“I was surprised. I asked, “Why do they need me to introduce them to this gay couple? Why wouldn’t he move in with Carl and his partner?”
I can’t believe I’m having to explain this to someone calling himself “Smithers”, FFS.
Taken from the words of the man himself, “Mighty” Matt Groening (all praise him!):
In the episode, Karl is implied to be homosexual; creator Matt Groening says that when people began asking “was he gay?” the day after the episode aired, his response was “he’s whatever you want him to be.”
To me, that sounds like a “Get Out of Controversy Free” answer, but whatever. If people want to believe Carl likes women, despite never showing any interest in them, and clearly being set up as a “Smithers” for Homer while showing definite interest in HIM, they are free to do so. But they would look pretty ridiculous.