of chocolate icing; which makes Homer worry that Bart might be gay. Hoping to ensure Bart likes girls, Homer forces him to stare at a cigarette billboard featuring scantily clad women. This backfires when Bart craves slim cigarettes, considered effeminate because they are marketed to women. Homer takes Bart to a steel mill to revel in a manly environment; however, the entire workforce is gay, which Homer learns when the steel mill turns into a gay disco during breaks. Desperate, Homer tries to snap Bart out of his brainwashing state by taking him deer hunting with Moe and Barney. When they cannot find any deer, they decide to shoot reindeer at Santa's Village instead. The reindeer violently attack the hunters, who are genuinely afraid and drop their macho posturing. With help from Lisa and Marge, John uses a Japanese Santa Claus robot to scare away the reindeer and save the hunting party. Homer is grateful to John for saving their lives and grudgingly accepts him. As John drives everyone home, Homer tells Bart he is fine with however he chooses to live his life. Bart is confused until Lisa explains Homer thinks his Bart is gay. Bart is stunned as their car drives away, blaring a gay anthem. Production The original concept for the episode came from a few lines of show ideas written by George Meyer. One of them read "Bart the homo", and Ron Hauge was selected to write the episode, with the story stemming from that line. The idea of using filmmaker John Waters as a guest star had been around for a while. Many of the staff were fans of his work, and showrunners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein had planned to use him in an episode called "Lisa and Camp", which revolved around Lisa "discovering the joys of campy things". Their idea was combined with Meyer's, and it became this episode. The episode was originally titled "Bart Goes to Camp", but was renamed because the joke was too oblique. Mike B. Anderson directed the episode, telling The Gold Coast Bulletin: "When I read the script I was enthralled, not only because of the visual possibilities, but also because the story felt very solid. It was engaging and surprising and I really put heart into that episode." Waters accepted his invitation to be a guest star instantly, stating that if it was good enough for the