The writers fucking massacred my boy Smithers. The joke with him, aside from being attracted to Mr. Burns, is that he's extremely closeted and otherwise conservative. In the early years, the few times he mentions wanting women's clothing, he makes an excuse that its 'for my mother'. Even the couple times he does pride related stuff in the early years he doesn't do it completely openly, like with the 'Stayin' in the Closet' float with Patty and Smithers in the Springfield pride parade. I do not buy in the later years that Smithers would do drag shows, be so openly gay, or be talking about gender shit. There's no more funny, he's just a walking woke point for the critics now.