The troll dolls above the Rex Mars Atomic Discombobulator have a slight resemblance to Homer.
This episode was almost banned from American TV. At the time, writing an episode of a sitcom about homosexuality was either not done or done as a very special dramatic episode, which wasn't the case here. It was only after a change in Fox management that the episode could air, but only if a few lines that were either too anti-gay or too risque could be cut or modified per the network's Standards and Practices regulations.
According to Ron Hauge, the writer of the episode, it was originally titled "Bart Goes to Camp" but was renamed as the joke was too oblique.
This episode originally focused on Lisa being interested in things considered "campy" (B-movies, goofy toys, etc) and Bart getting into it to, only for Homer to think that Bart is going to end up a homosexual.
Goofs[]
Bart with an oversized head
In the opening shot, Bart's head is far bigger proportionally than the other kids'.
Todd Flanders enters Bart's lottery, even though gambling is a sin. He could have been sneaking it away from Ned and Maude. In addition, this likely wasn't serious gambling; it's not revealed what the prize is, but given that it was only kids, the prize was likely something smaller, which they may permit.
Bart puts twelve lottery balls into the dryer, but only seven children (including Bart) are shown in the basement. Some of them may have "bought" more tickets.
Even if it shrank when washed, there is no way that Homer's Pin Pals shirt would fit John.
In addition, at the end of "Team Homer", Mr. Burns' dogs tore the Pin Pals shirt to shreds.
Marge pronounces "voila" with a hard "v" sound, when it is usually pronounced with a "vw" sound. Though this is arguably consistent with her character, since she has been known to mispronounce words like "foliage", "nuclear", and "wind". On top of that, "voila" is often mispronounced and misspelled in real life. Interestingly, it's closer to the french pronunciation of the word.
John didn't recognize Homer from the Pin Pals shirt. And even if he did, Homer's Pin Pals shirt was shredded by Mr. Burns' hounds at the end of "Team Homer" (though, given that the shirt was skinny and could fit John, it was probably Mr. Burns' shirt that he gave away because he never felt any real attachment to Homer, Moe, and Apu as friends and only stayed on the team because Homer asked Mr. Burns for money while he was high on ether).
When Homer enters the kitchen, there are four brown donuts on a plate on the counter. When he walks back from the coffeepot, there are only three donuts: one brown, one pink, and one yellow. Homer then grabs a chocolate donut, and the same three donuts are shown on the plate.
Despite Homer being anti-gay in this episode, he didn't seem to mind being kissed by his gay secretary Karl in "Simpson and Delilah", doesn't notice (or care) that his coworker Smithers could be (and most likely is) gay for his boss (and would later be confirmed on "The Burns Cage"), and was completely oblivious to the fact that he was in a lesbian bar in "Fear of Flying" (he only freaked out because the place didn't have a fire exit). This may be simply because he is oblivious to the gay implications of the first two behaviors, as well as the ambiguity of the former (a fact that Harvey Fierstein confirmed) which is supported by his initial cluelessness toward John's gayness. The latter one may be due to more discomfort with male gayness than female gayness, which is a real trait of some homophobic individuals.
John mentions Helen Lovejoy looking blonde, but she actually has gray-brown hair.
Marge criticizes Homer for being anti-gay. In "Summer of 4 Ft. 2", she said "Girls, Lisa. Boys kiss girls." This implies that she is anti-gay herself, although it could have also been her explaining the basics of love to a young Lisa. Also "There's Something About Marrying" shows that Marge is initially uncomfortable with Patty being gay, meaning she may be more uncomfortable with family being gay than general people.
When Homer refuses the change of hat from John he says "...You might need it when it starts raining naked ladies" even though his favorite song on Moes Jukebox was It's raining men (which ironically is a Gay anthem).
Homer seems to think that only straight people had been in the house before John visited. Waylon Smithers was in the Simpsons' house in two earlier episodes: "Brush With Greatness" and "King-Size Homer". Even if Homer didn't know that Smithers is gay, Marge or Lisa probably would have figured it out. As well as this, in "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas", one of the pictures in the plans questioned why he had no girlfriend, which would've probably provoked Marge about it, although it is a later episode.
Marge, Bart, and Lisa say "Ooooh" when John shows them the plumbing supply shop. However, the "Ooooh" continues after they have closed their mouths.
When Homer confronts John in the kitchen, the clock jumps back from 9:05 to 8:00.
Cultural References[]
The title of the episode is a pun on the word homophobia, a fear of homosexuals, though the term is frequently used to describe any kind of dislike towards homosexuals.
The snack cakes Marge served for dessert resemble Hostess Cupcakes, specifically the chocolate cupcakes and pink sno balls.
When John is introduced, there is a plastic pink flamingo lying in the background, a reference to John Waters' film Pink Flamingos.
John's car resembles Tony Montana's 1963 Cadillac from the movie Scarface.
The comment Homer makes about laws against homosexuality could reference the period of time in the UK (around the 1950s) when homosexuals were prosecuted and given the choice of injections or prison. (Fun fact: that was the motive for Alan Turing's suicide.) There were also laws in most U.S. states against homosexuality up until the late 1960s and early 1970s and there are still laws like that in some states today. Until 1968, the U.S. federal government considered homosexuality a mental illness.
When Moe is offering suggestions to Homer on how to "man up" Bart to avoid him turning homosexual, Moe mentioned that they used to send boys off to war to make them men, but they don't have any wars anymore, and blamed then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher for this. This occurred before September 11, 2001.
