“And Helen Lovejoy, sure, she looks blonde, but I’ve heard cuffs and collar don’t match, if you get my drift.” – John
“I don’t, but I loved hearing it.” – Marge Simpson
Dead Homer Society
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Dead Homer Society 
12 responses to “Quote of the Day”
John: “Homer, what do you have a against gays??”
Homer : “You know…it’s not…usual. If there were a law it would be against it!.”
I’m surprised they got away with this. Damn.
Heh….It really shows you how much things have changed in the past ~15 years. Now Homer (from this episode) would be seen as a bigot, when back then it was considered pretty normal.
It’s not the “things” that have changed, This, it’s the show. 15 years ago they would run the FCC blade and risk their asses for subtle jokes, today they just don’t know how to make fun of taboos anymore.
That may be true. But trust me: things (at least in America) have indeed changed–especially in just the past few years.
This came out about the time Ellen came out. Back then being gay was definitely “not normal” in the U.S. So Homer’s attitude was pretty consistent with much of middle-of-the-road America. These days Homer would be decried as a bigot.
Not that I’m in anyway implying that ZS wouldn’t be inept at parodying this or most other issues.
That’s the point of the episode – that Homer is prejudiced. We’re not supposed to be on his side.
Maybe, but again, this point of view was not so prejudiced at the time. Not as much, at least–even if you feel that’s irrelevant.
Mayhaps. I don’t live in “your” country after all =)
Yet I must say that in Quebec the situation regarding LGBT rights hasn’t changed much in, what, 20 years? The legalization of same-sex marriages in 2004 was only the butter melting on an already hot pan.
And personally, I can’t say I disapprove of today’s show trying to dish some gay jokes, but as soon as they do, I’m overconfident these don’t come funny for some reason. They’re just like “Have you ever wondered” jokes today.
If you get my drift.
Now, I feel that the jokes would try to prove how cool the Simpsons are. How so un-bigoted they are. Like
maybe Homer goes off on a rant against two gay guys, and preaches and spews hatred for a too-long period of time, only to find out that he hated their choice of T-shirt fabric or something, and then starts to act completely effeminate.
And if Homer does act like a bigot, it would be in the style of an over-the-top, flanderized right-wing Republican while the rest of the family is so in tune with all differences in people to balance things out. I’m thinking of that ZS episode where Homer is suspicious of his new Middle-Eastern neighbours, while Bort is charming the pants off of the mother, saying how tasty her food is.
Or that whole long story where the Simpsons are actually 1/32nd Black. If there was a point to that story, fine. Or if it led to some continuity, great. But they just used it as a means to an end, the end being looking cool and trendy.
The writers don’t actually care about different cultures, orientations, or stories that deal with a person’s struggles to accept those that are different than us; they’re posers, that start off with wanting to prove a point to make them look cool, and then write a story to support that point.
John wasn’t exactly the most subtle depiction of homosexuality I’ve seen, but given what road the show went… I’m still calling this a great episode. The point of tolerance in this context is how sexuality doesn’t matter. No matter what is shown here, and how some may consider this stereotyping or perhaps call this a poorly written episode (I know some did) … in the end I think the lesson of the episode was how sexuality doesn’t matter and on the flip-side I’m reminded of Bart’s remark on how the “manly attitude” that Homer and the gang wanted to push onto him seemed “pretty gay” in his eyes. This was a legit statement about how subjective these things really are.
“Simpson Zombies” now live in a world where homosexuality is more accepted, but in that bad way. It happened with a lot of subcultures: People say they accept the new group, but they only see it in stereotypes. Now I understand that the Simpsons are “that type of show” and it’s not being done on a weekly basis, but sometimes seeing the way gay men are portrayed on the series at times… makes me want to throw blessings towards John, because it actually took me longer than 1 minute to figure out that he’s gay!
Sorry, just me expressing my emotions about the episode. I really liked it, but back in the 20th century, some people had it on their “worst episodes ever” list……. HAHAHAHAH yeah, I’m certain that didn’t change since then!!!!
I always found Homer’s bigotry to be a bit weird, even considering the year it was made. It’s not unusual for a man of that era, but it is for him. We can still relate to him because his jerkiness (at the time) is simply due to being inconsiderate or selfish. He Doesn’t Know Any Better. But in this one, he shows straight-up hatred about something for the majority of the episode.
The Simpsons had already had a history of skimming by homosexuality in jokes, and handling it much better than they do now, by not treating it like a big deal. I realize this “Homer’s Phobia”‘s intention was noble, but when this episode stops that attitude dead in its tracks to teach us all a valuable lesson, it just feels uncomfortable.
And one thing that always bothered me about that line, was that I never knew or saw Helen Lovejoy to be a blonde. She always seemed to have grey hair – but I guess the joke wouldn’t have been funny then