 It was revealed in a flashback in the episode that Smithers was briefly married to a woman , but the two split up when he devoted too much time to his boss Mr. Burns . Smithers 's relationship with Mr. Burns has long been a running joke on The Simpsons . His sexual orientation has often come into question , with some fans claiming he is a " Burns @-@ sexual " and only attracted to his boss , while others maintain that he is , without a doubt , gay . Matthew Henry wrote in the book Leaving Springfield that this episode is " perhaps the best " example of an attempt to portray an actual gay lifestyle on the show . Henry added that the flashback is a " wonderfully rendered parody of scenes from two of Tennessee Williams 's most famous plays , Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire . To fully appreciate it , one must know something of not only the two plays cited but also of Williams himself , of his own struggles with both heterosexual and homosexual desires and the way in which these struggles were incorporated into his art . The creators of The Simpsons offer what I think is a perfect parallel for the relationship between Smithers and Mr. Burns by combining Williams 's two most notable male characters and their defining characteristics : the suppressed homosexual desire of Brick and desperate dependence of Stanley . " 
