People are delighted that Smithers from The Simpsons is coming out as gay

It's not exactly a secret to fans of the show, but now – after 27 years of hiding his true feelings – Simpsons character Waylon Smithers is set to officially come out as gay.

Inspired by the real life personal experiences of Rob LaZebnik, a writer for the show, the episode was made to show support for his son Johnny, 21, who recently came out. The announcement about the upcoming episode has been well-received by fans who have followed Smithers' journey from confused to confident for more than two decades. [caption id="attachment_50561" align="alignnone" width="633"] via YouTube / Fox[/caption] In the new episode of the long-running show, Mr Burns' long-time admirer will apparently be caught using Grindr, and LaZebnik told the New York Post:

"I am a Midwestern guy, so I don't tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve, but I thought, 'What better way to tell my son I love him than to write a cartoon about it?  We didn't really want to have that big moment of 'I'm out,' you know? Instead, just have it be a big embrace — like, everyone knows it anyway."

Previous episodes like 'Homer's Phobia' and 'There's Something About Marrying' have explored the issue in the past https://twitter.com/LukusWilson/status/716932749731299328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/CynthiaOToole/status/716930330083647489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw [caption id="attachment_50562" align="alignnone" width="976"] via YouTube / Fox[/caption] https://twitter.com/laloalcaraz/status/717214257453142017 https://twitter.com/pau10mb/status/712125514408787968 https://twitter.com/cricketsintune/status/711689524888346624 https://twitter.com/jnlevine/status/717256801310212096 [caption id="attachment_50564" align="alignnone" width="633"] via YouTube / Fox[/caption] Any more spoilers and scoops we should know about? Let us know at hello@JOE.co.uk.