Is “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” queerbaiting?

OpinionEssay

Feb 13

Come on guys, just one Measly little kiss, that’s all we want!

Mac McDonald (left) and Dennis Reynolds (right) on their monthly dinner date in season 8, episode 9, *The Gang Dines Out.*

When you think about the longest-running live-action sitcom in history, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, do you think queer representation or queer fanbase?

I know for myself, when I think of the words “queer fanbase,” the first things to pop into my head are Tumblr and the Superwholock fandom, of which, if you are unfamiliar with…oh boy, I do not know where to start. In simplest terms, it was a mega fandom full of young queer folks on early 2010’s Tumblr, comprising the television shows, Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock. And indeed, all these shows have something in common: a male protagonist with an arguably homoerotic friendship. Now stay with me as I go down a fandom rabbit hole/Tumblr history lesson; it will all make sense when we get back to Always Sunny, I swear.

Though not as potent on the Tumblr atmosphere, other shows that are treated in a similar manner by my beloved Tumblrinas include House, Breaking Bad, and Peaky Blinders, just to name a few. These are shows, for all intents and purposes, that seem relatively straight-manish (“straight-man” being a term I’m going to use to describe shows seemingly targeted to a straight-male audience), yet are claimed by the queer internet community to differing degrees. Fanbases of shows such as these fall primarily in two categories: those who accept the shows as they are, but enjoy the fantasy of what they could be, and those who genuinely believe the writers are sending subliminal messages because their big production companies will not allow certain things to be explicitly stated. Theories and headcanons in these specific shows include Jesse Pinkman of Breaking Bad being a trans man, House and Wilson of House being romantic soulmates, and Tommy and Alfie of Peaky Blinders having a heated on-again-off-again enemies to lovers and back to enemies and so on and so forth romance.

I myself, as a queer woman, have been drawn to these shows and have long enjoyed partaking in fandom culture across the board, loving both outwardly queer shows and the straight-man shows with (maybe) queer undertones. My take is that these shows’ initial audience was straight men; manly shows starring men, doing relatively manly things such as doctoring, or hunting demons, or running gangs, or cooking and selling meth, or being relatively politically incorrect for attention (cough House cough). But online, these hyper-masculine protagonists are being “baby-girlified,” which is basically an internet slang term for looking at a character through either a queer and/or hyper-vulnerable lens, in this case, queerness and vulnerability being seen as inherently feminine, but I digress. Really, in all of this baby-girlifying of generally male-centered media, I must ask, why do so many fandom-loving queer folk, including myself, do this? Why are we so drawn to stereotypically straight-male media?

As I’ve stated, these shows are mainly male-centered, as in created by men, based around a male protagonist and/or a group of men, aimed at male audiences, and often lack layered female characters or feature female characters that are acceptably hated for their complexity (cough Skylar White cough). Now this is a heavy generalization, but I’m working off of averages. Generally speaking, these are truths about some or most of these shows, and though I’ve named mainly dramas, this goes for some sitcoms and comedies as well, although deep angst is usually necessary for babygirlfication, which is why dramas tend to saturate the fandom-sphere a bit more. The only other sitcom besides Always Sunny (which we’ll get to soon!) that I can think of off the top of my head that has a fandom that babygirlifies their characters to the same extent as the aforementioned dramas is South Park, at least from what I’ve seen. I’m sure there are many others, but again, I’m generalizing. If you go on Tumblr or some very niche parts of TikTok (am I just telling on myself?), you will see queer Gen-Zers editing characters like House and Jesse Pinkman to Lana Del Rey lyrics or the latest upbeat Sabrina Carpenter pop anthem. I’ve seen countless edits of House to “House Tour,” and I love them very much.

Though many of the male characters are queerified by the internet, there is a lack of openly queer characters in many of these shows. But there is one show that I believe fits into this genre of straight-man show that does have at least one explicitly gay main character, and unlike the shows I have previously named, it is still on air (besides South Park). That show is, of course, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the real star of this opinion piece and the exception to almost every rule of television.

Does the general public know that one of the main characters in Always Sunny is canonically an out gay man? In my experience, when I mention that fact to casual viewers or those who haven’t watched Always Sunny since the early seasons, this comes as a surprise. An out and proud queer character on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia? That’s like if Cartman unironically came out as gay, or if it was revealed that House was in fact bisexual and kissed men every so often. This isn’t “this character makes many gay jokes about himself being gay with his best friend, and queer viewers hope that it may be more than a joke.” No, in this rare occasion, one of our male protagonists (or antagonists in the case of Always Sunny, up to the viewer), Mac McDonald ,comes out of the closet and explicitly states, “I’m gay.” (season 12, episode 6 Hero or Hate Crime) He even has an incredibly heartfelt moment in season 13’s famous finale, Mac Finds His Pride, which revolves around Mac coming out to his dad. Completely unrionic, the most sincere Always Sunny had ever been up to that point.

Now, in comparison to some of Tumblr’s favorite straight-man shows, this is a huge thing. You may be asking yourself, “If there is an out gay character in Always Sunny, how is it queer-baiting? Is nothing good enough for you people?” Well, in light of the Stranger Things Byler drama, where the creators and writers’ inaction to confirm whether or not Will Byers and Mike Wheeler would end up together caused fans to accuse the Duffer Brothers of queerbaiting, I’ve been thinking (oh no). In the discourse surrounding the Duffer Brothers’ treatment of their gay characters, I have realized how insidious Mac’s relationship is with his roommate and best friend, Dennis Reynolds. How can queerbaiting happen even when a character is stated to be queer in canon? In the case of Stranger Things, fans argued that just because Will Byers comes out as gay within the show, it didn’t mean that the Duffers did not use the potential relationship between him and Mike Wheeler to bait queer fans to come back to the newest season and watch further for the potential of said queer relationship. In Always Sunny’s case, for seasons upon seasons, even before he had come out, and his queerness was only used as a punchline, Mac has expressed his romantic and sexual interest in Dennis. And often Dennis humors Mac and reciprocates, though always on his own terms. In season 16, episode 4, Frank vs. Russia, there is an entire plotline revolving around Dennis teaching Mac and Dee how to attract men while Dennis silumanteouly catphishes Mac on a dating site, pretending to be a man named “Johnny”. What, you may ask, comes of this plotline besides Frank eventually being manipulated into using anal beads to win a chess tournament? (Long story.) Vague suggestions that Dennis may be a little queer. That’s what. Baby steps, I suppose?

In a 2011 interview with Conan O’Brien, Glenn Howerton, one of the creators and the actor who plays Dennis, states that all of the characters in Always Sunny are “ambiguously gay”. Now, considering this interview took place in 2011, might this have just been a smug joke using gayness as a punchline? I’m not sure, but as a fan of the show and Glenn Howerton, I’d like to believe this was a genuine take, that this is something he truly believes as one of the creators and headwriters. Online, my fellow hopefuls consistently use this interview clip as evidence that Mac and Dennis will be endgame, that the queer undertones are not undertones at all, but rather purposeful hints as to what’s to come. Not trying to further incriminate Glenn Howerton, I’m sure he does not mention Macdennis to pruposefully bait queer fans, but in a recorded fan interaction in 2024, a fan asked Glenn if he thinks Mac and Dennis are “the best will-they-won’t-they in sitcom history,” and he answered enthusiastically, “Yes! I’ll answer yes to that.” The fan then goes on to say, “And you wrote that!'“ to which Glenn responds, “Yeah I did!” This infers purpose, that Macdennis is being written with intent. What that intent is, I’m not quite sure yet.

As I mentioned earlier, the character, Mac, came out as gay in season 12, which aired in 2017, almost a decade ago. Today, we are on season 17; season 18’s filming has just been announced. I’ve enjoyed the angsty will-they-won’t-they of Macdennis and happily partake in saving edits of Mac and Dennis, liking posts about their relationship/friendship/secret third thing, and have even created a “MACDENNIS” playlist full of romantic songs that I find suit them. (One of many Macdennis playlists that exist out there, may I add.)

I love fandom, but on thinking about queer baiting past, I can’t help but ponder, “Am I being queer baited in real time by Always Sunny?” Yes, Mac is out and proud. But I think Rob Mac, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day may be subconsciously trying to have their cake and eat it too. Yes, one of the main characters is gay and out, but he is in love with his roommate, who may or may not also be some sort of queer. This may or may not be a thing. It’s ambiguous. We have Tumblrinas waiting for new episodes, eating up scraps of Macdennis content, we have the creators and head writers poking the bear that is Macdennis truthers, but if everyone started becoming queer, would that alienate a portion of their audience, specifically that “straight-male” audience I mentioned earlier? I have an inkling that, although it’s almost certainly not on purpose, Rob, Glenn, and Charlie, the beloved founding fathers of Always Sunny, are trying to avoid that, to keep the Always Sunny veterans who have loved the show since 2005 satiated by not straying too far from what is, identity-wise, comfortable and comforting.

Audience reaction to Mac being canonically gay was mixed. Many original fans, or as I like to call them, the “initial intended audience,” were not thrilled, fearing the show would take a turn for the worse. In a 2019 Entertainment Weekly interview, co-creator and show-runner Rob Mac responded to diehard fan criticism against Mac’s emotional coming out dance in the final episode of season 13 by stating, “ It's great to surprise people and have them not have any idea what we're doing and why we're doing it. I have people saying, 'Oh my God, I love this, it's one of the best things you've ever done,' and then I have other people saying, 'You've destroyed my show, you've ruined it.' And I'm like, 'Great!' That's exactly what we should be doing on the show, is we should be destroying somebody's idea of what 'Sunny' is on a regular basis." (“The gang makes history: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia cast on their record-tying run”)

The internet can make things seem more important or more far-reaching than they are, specifically within fandom culture. When you’re so engaged with your niche community, it may seem like everyone in the world has the same mindset. In this case, everyone who loves Always Sunny totally knows all about Macdennis lore and has heard these off-and-on-the-record encounters with the creators about the status and validity of Macdennis. Keeping up with a show or any kind of media to this degree is not the norm, unfortunately, though I, too, wish everyone analyzed the things I liked with the same gusto as my fellow Tumblr users and TikTok editors. Show a Macdennis edit to one of my brother’s millennial friends who has watched Always Sunny since 2005, a.k.a a member of said initial intended audience, and he’ll probably say, “Haha, love Mac and Dennis’ bromance, it’s so funny!” He probably interacts with the show, at most, through following the official Always Sunny Instagram account, never thinking of it on a day-to-day basis. The average viewer doesn’t know about the comments Glenn made in a random fan interaction regarding Macdennis that you can only find in the depths of Reddit; those tongue-in-cheek moments are for a specific sector of the Always Sunny audience, and I think the creators know it. If Mac and Dennis got together, how would my brother’s friend feel about Always Sunny? Would he feel alienated? Would he think that his favorite edgy sitcom from the 2000’s has gone too far, too woke? Would he think that multiple queer characters in one cast is unrealistic?

I can’t help but ask myself, if the queer sector of the fandom is always receiving crumbs of queerness between Mac and Dennis and little treats here and there between seasons from the creators themselves, is that not the definition of baiting, queer baiting? Keeping us coming back for seasons 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and so on, just for the same joke to be made over and over, that Dennis is ambigously queer, that Mac is in love with him and look at how silly it is when they partake in vague queerness (still roommates despite being almost 50, going on monthly one-on-one dinner dates, erotic dreams about one another, being accused of deep codependency).

At this point, I want to assume the best in Glenn, Rob, and Charlie. I want to assume that they will continue pushing boundaries and lean into redefining what an anti-sitcom can be, to break the status quo. Unlike all of the other live-action shows listed above, this one hasn’t ended. There is still time. As far as we know, Always Sunny will be airing until the end of time. But they have the opportunity to do something different, to strip away all ambiguity and do what Rob Mac claims he wants to do, and destroy the “idea of what ‘Sunny’ is”. To say screw you to those in the audience who believe being queer is too much, that an open queer relationship between two evil middle-aged men is unrealistic (lol I wish), to risk making some people maybe feel a little alienated (emphasis on feel). It would be historic; it would add to the legacy that Always Sunny has been building now for over 20 years. In a cultural moment where it feels like joy is so rare, seeing some canon queer joy (or more so canon queer insanity) in one of the most long lasting televison shows of all time would be refreshing in a world saturated with gross misuse of the simple hopes and dreams of queer fandom communities.

All this to say, I’m crossing my fingers for canon Macdennis in season 18, I feel it, guys, it’s gonna happen!