'Simpsons' character comes out as gay in latest episode

LOS ANGELES, April 4 (UPI) -- Simpsons character Waylon Smithers Jr. has come out as gay in the latest episode of the long-running animated series.

The episode, entitled "The Burns Cage," premiered Sunday and featured Homer Simpson on the lookout for a new match for Smithers after he realized that his true love, the conniving Mr. Burns, would never feel the same way about him.

After leaving his job as Mr. Burns' assistant, Smithers gets together with fellow Springfield citizen Julio, before eventually deciding to come back to work alongside the power plant mogul after the relationship doesn't pan out.

Although Smithers was portrayed as gay on The Simpsons for 27 seasons, Sunday marked the first time he officially came out.

"We didn't really want to have that big moment of 'I'm out,' you know?" Simpsons writer Rob LaZebnik told the New York Post. "Instead, just have it be a big embrace — like everyone knows it."

LaZebnik also noted that the episode was inspired by his own son who came out while in high school.

"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?,'" he said.

The Simpsons airs on Fox Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.