Grinder is a parody of Grindr, a homosexual geosocial app.
Trivia
Rob LaZebnik told in an interview that the inspiration for this episode came from his relationship with his homosexual son, Johnny LaZebnik, who came out during high school.[1]
This episode shows that Springfield is located in the middle of the United States. This could be also deducted from "Much Apu About Nothing". Both chapters suggest that the Springfield from the United States which corresponds to the fictional Springfield in The Simpsons is the one from Colorado. However, Matt Groening has revealed that the town was named after Oregon's Springfield, and in Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind, it is shown that The Simpsons's Springfield is the one from Illinois. This contradictory evidence might suggest that Springfield is just a fictional place with no precise location in the Simpsons Universe, as one of the many coherence issues in the show.
Smithers comes out as a homosexual in this episode.
Smithers also attempted to come out in two prior episodes: The first was in Bart's Inner Child, where, during the Do What You Feel festival, Smithers attempted to admit his romantic love for Mr. Burns, only to quickly change gears and claim he was actually loving the shirt Mr. Burns was wearing at the time, causing him to ruefully state he should have come out to Mr. Burns at the boathouse; the second was in Lisa the Skeptic, where Smithers, believing the end of the world was occurring, decided to kiss Mr. Burns on the lips, but when it turned out the whole thing was a publicity hoax, Smithers quickly covered himself and stated it was "a sign of respect."
At the Licenses Bureau, it's possible to see for a fraction of a second that the lady gives Smithers and Julio a Marriage License, but later, it is a completely different Fishing License.
Janey says missays her name as Jacqueline Jones.
In the map that Julio shows Smithers, the USA is separated from Canada and Mexico is surrounded by the sea.