Mystery around Simpsons season one Black Smithers finally solved

If you're a true Simpsons fan, you may have wondered for some time why Smithers used to be Black.

Mr Burns's sidekick has been a stalwart of the iconic cartoon series since it hit our screens.

However, in his first appearance in the show, in the episode 'Homer's Odyssey', Waylon Smithers looked very, very different.

Well, the mystery is solved:

He wasn't the feeble yellow figure we have come to know and love, oh no, he actually had much darker skin and blue hair.

For many years, fans have wondered whether this was proof that he was actually supposed to be Black, but it would appear that this is not the case at all. It was actually a mix-up.

The show's colour stylist, Gyorgyi Peluce, accidentally made him darker than he was meant to be.

And because the cartoon was just starting out at the time, they didn't have a big budget, so couldn't go back and change it.

Speaking to TMZ about the blunder, the show's creator Matt Groening said: "He was always yellow, and they painted him wrong once.

"At the time we didn't have enough to do retakes, so when there were glitches and mistakes it stayed that way.

"He was never 'Black', it was an accident."

Disney

The executive producer Jay Kogen also said there was initially talk of Smithers being a Black character but that they decided against it.

He said: "Originally [Smithers] was gay and Black...But we thought it was too much so we just kept him gay."

So there you have it. It was all an accident.

If that's whet your appetite, then you're in luck, because we've got more Simpsons trivia for you.

Fans recently lost their minds after discovering the real reason Maggie was scanned during the title sequence.

It turns out Maggie being scanned was an easter egg for eagle-eyed fans when the show started; more specifically, the fact that the price of $847.63 flashes up on the register.

Why's this price important? Well, as Matt Groening previously confirmed, in the year The Simpsons was released (1989) the estimated monthly cost of raising a child in the US was – you guessed it – $847.63.

You're welcome.

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Topics: The Simpsons, Entertainment, Film and TV

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is the News/Agenda Desk Lead, covering the latest trends and breaking stories. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

@SmithersDom