I was clicking around the other day when I came across Lenny’s Wikipedia page. It’s a fairly typical Wikipedia article for a character of Lenny’s renown, approximately 2500 words, semi-scholarly tone, etcetera. Naturally there is an entire heading devoted to “Relationship with Carl Carlson”. Here is the beginning of that section:
In the non-canon episode "Behind the Laughter", Lenny and Carl are constant companions. Despite Lenny and Carl appearing to be best friends, as of the eighth season, Carl had yet to meet Lenny’s alleged beauty-queen wife.[30] A running gag through the series is the possibility of a sexual relationship between Lenny and Carl.
Before I get started, let me just say . . . “non-canon” . . . really? This is not Star Trek.
Setting that aside, footnote #30 links to the Wikipedia page for “In Marge We Trust”. Over the next two and a half lengthy paragraphs the various times a possibly homersexual relationship between them has been been implied or joked about are meticulously cataloged. Each instance is matched with a footnote to the episode in which it occurred, the earliest episode referenced is the Season 11 finale (Behind the Laughter), which was broadcast on May 21, 2000. Everything else is from Season 13 or later.
In other words, the bizarro hijinks of Lenny and Carl occur 100% after the start of Zombie Simpsons, Wikipedia said so.
(Oddly enough, Carl’s Wikipedia page is a lot shorter and less detailed. Maybe whoever did Lenny’s page realized what a waste it was and gave up before getting to Carl’s.)
Dead Homer Society 
One response to “In Which I Use Wikipedia to Prove Something of No Importance”
“Canon” is a pretty common word in all sorts of fandoms and such to describe “that stuff that happened on screen/page” if you follow nerdy circles. I managed to untangle myself from the vast poison tentacles of Harry Potter fandom, there is no end to how abominably nerdy people can be. But anyway.
I have noticed a few nudge-nudge-wink-wink gay jokes in more recent episodes of The Simpsons. Of course, the whole thing with Smithers has stretched from about season four or so (perhaps I will look that up, but eh), but I feel they’ve become more numerous now, and it doesn’t seem like a kind and open-minded representation so much as “we can get away with dirty jokes more now” and using LGBTs as a punchline. Alluding to Lenny and Carl’s perhaps-relationship isn’t being inclusive, just “hur gay”. I am painfully aware that many people will think I’m extremely boring and “ruining the fun” for saying stuff like this, but we’ve all got our issues. I would like to see more honestly LGBT characters in The Simpsons where it wasn’t a matter of snickering behind our hands at allusions that never come to anything. But I feel like I’m shouting into a void, alas.