Reception thumb|right|200px|Smithers's voice actor Harry Shearer In 2004, The Simpsons producers announced that one of their characters was going to come out of the closet. Speculation on who it would be was printed in newspapers throughout the United States and Canada (even claiming Smithers's "sexual orientation was about the worst-kept secret in Springfield") as well as in Australia, New Zealand,"Simpsons in gay outing". The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand), February 15, 2005. Ireland, (the Irish Independent called Smithers "too obvious" a choice),"Waylon Smithers". Irish Independent: August 7, 2004. Retrieved October 26, 2007. and the United Kingdom. Despite Matt Groening joking that it would be Homer, the Boston Herald calculated the odds of several characters being gay, with Smithers at a million to one. PlanetOut Inc. hosted an online poll in the weeks prior to the episode to determine based on "cartoon gaydar" who was gay on the Simpsons, with 97% of the respondents choosing Smithers. Jenny Stewart, the entertainment editor at the site said of the poll, "We've never had such an avalanche of people voting in any of our polls as we did on The Simpsons." It was Patty Bouvier who came out.
Reception thumb|right|200px|Smithers's voice actor Harry Shearer In 2004, The Simpsons producers announced that one of their characters was going to come out of the closet. Speculation on who it would be was printed in newspapers throughout the United States and Canada (even claiming Smithers's "sexual orientation was about the worst-kept secret in Springfield") as well as in Australia, New Zealand,"Simpsons in gay outing". The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand), February 15 2005. Ireland (the Irish Independent called Smithers "too obvious" a choice),"Waylon Smithers". Irish Independent: August 7, 2004. Retrieved October 26, 2007. and the United Kingdom. Despite Matt Groening joking that it would be Homer, the Boston Herald calculated the odds of several characters being gay, with Smithers at a million to one. PlanetOut Inc. hosted an online poll in the weeks prior to the episode to determine based on "cartoon gaydar" who was gay on the Simpsons, with 97% of the respondents choosing Smithers. Jenny Stewart, the entertainment editor at the site said of the poll, "We've never had such an avalanche of people voting in any of our polls as we did on The Simpsons" It was Patty Bouvier who came out.