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Homer's Phobia |
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Trivia
- The Pin Pals shirt John wears was originally Homer's and was more prominent in the episode "Team Homer."
- The troll dolls above the Rex Mars Atomic Discombobulator have a slight resemblance to Homer.
- This episode was almost banned from American TV. At the time, writing an episode of a sitcom about homosexuality was either not done or done as a very special dramatic episode, which wasn't the case here. It was only after a change in FOX management that the episode could air, but only if a few lines that were either too anti-gay or too risque could be cut or modified per FOX's Standards and Broadcasting.
- The scene where the broken gas pipe creates a bright flame has been cut in TV airings to avoid seizures.
- According to Ron Hauge, the writer of the episode, it was originally titled "Bart Goes to Camp" but was renamed as the joke was too oblique.
- This episode originally focused on Lisa being interested in things considered "campy" (B-movies, goofy toys, etc) and Bart getting into it to, only for Homer to think that Bart is going to end up a homosexual.
Goofs
- Todd Flanders enters Bart's lottery, even though gambling is a sin.
- Bart puts twelve lottery balls into the dryer, but only seven children (including Bart) are shown in the basement.
- Even if it shrank when washed, there is no way that Homer's Pin Pals shirt would fit John.
- John didn't recognize Homer from the shirt. Also, the bowling shirt appeared to be shredded when homer and the Pin Pals tried to get back their bowling trophy from Mr. Burns.
- When Homer enters the kitchen, there are four brown donuts on a plate on the counter. When he walks back from the coffeepot, there are only three donuts: one brown, one pink, and one yellow. Homer then grabs a chocolate donut, and the same three donuts are shown on the plate.
- Despite Homer being anti-gay in this episode, he didn't seem to mind being kissed by his gay secretary Karl in "Simpson and Delilah", doesn't notice (or care) that his coworker Smithers could be (and most likely is) gay for his boss, and was completely oblivious to the fact that he was in a lesbian bar in "Fear of Flying" (he only freaked out because the place didn't have a fire exit).
- Marge criticizes Homer for being anti-gay. In "Summer of 4 Ft. 2", she said "Girls, Lisa. Boys kiss girls." This implies that she is anti-gay herself, although it could have also been her explaining the basics of love to a young Lisa.
- Homer seems to think that only straight people had been in the house before John visited. Waylon Smithers was in the Simpsons' house in two earlier episodes: "Brush With Greatness" and "King-Size Homer". Even if Homer didn't know that Smithers is gay, Marge or Lisa probably would have figured it out. As well as this, in "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas", one of the pictures in the plans questioned why he had no girlfriend, which would've probably provoked Marge about it, although it is a later episode.
- Marge, Bart, and Lisa say "Ooooh" when John shows them the plumbing supply shop. However, the "Ooooh" continues after they have closed their mouths.
- When Homer confronts John in the kitchen, the clock jumps back from 9:05 to 8:00.
- The robotic Santa Claus is smaller at the end of the episode. It is possible that John has two Santa robots of different sizes.
Cultural References
- The title of the episode is a pun on the word homophobia, a fear of homosexuals.
- The song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory is played twice during the episode: first as the steel mill transforms into a disco and second over the closing credits.
- Homer's record collection includes music by the New Christy Minstrels and The Wedding of Lynda Bird Johnson, the albums Loony Luau and Ballads of the Green Berets by Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler.
- The song that John picks out and he and Homer dance to is "I Love the Nightlife" by Alicia Bridges, and the song that Bart dances to is "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" by Cher.
- When John is introduced, there is a plastic pink flamingo lying in the background, a reference to John Waters' film Pink Flamingos.
- John's car resembles Tony Montana's 1963 Cadillac from the movie Scarface.
- The comment Homer makes about laws against homosexuality could reference the period of time in the UK (around the 1950s) when homosexuals were prosecuted and given the choice of injections or prison. (Fun fact: that was the motive for Alan Turing's suicide)