began streaming on Disney+ in 2019, former Simpsons writer and executive producer Bill Oakley named this one of the best classic Simpsons episodes to watch on the service. Conversely, in 2002, Off the Telly writers Steve Williams and Ian Jones named "Homer's Phobia" one of the five worst episodes of The Simpsons, stating that it "leaves such a nasty taste in the mouth," as Homer is "quite simply a bastard" throughout the course of the episode. The pair concluded by saying "this is a side of the show we'd not seen before, nor particularly wanted to see." In June 2003, Igor Smykov sued the Russian television channel REN TV on claims that The Simpsons, along with Family Guy, were "morally degenerate and promoted drugs, violence and homosexuality". As evidence, "Homer's Phobia" was shown to the judge to prove that The Simpsons promoted homosexuality and thus should not be aired again on the channel. The case was thrown out after one day. In July 2021, Cathal Gunning of Screen Rant argued that the episode made a huge contribution to "normalizing LGBTQ+ characters," noting that they were a rarity at the time the episode aired, and it didn't "treat its first openly gay character as a walking joke." Gunning also argued that the episode was "groundbreaking" because Homer's fear of a gay man, voiced by John Waters, was mocked, rather than Waters' character, and heralded the episode for being "one of the first attempts to break down the invisible barrier faced by gay characters" while noting it lampooned the hypermasculinity of Homer's friends. References External links 1997 American television episodes Homophobia in fiction Animation controversies in television LGBT-related controversies in animation LGBT-related controversies in television Hunting in popular culture LGBT-related animated television episodes American LGBT-related television episodes The Simpsons (season 8) episodes Television episodes about anti-LGBT sentiment Emmy Award-winning episodes