Waylon Smithers was actually animated as a Black man in his very first appearance on The Simpsons, due to a colorist making a mistake during the rushed production of the early…

A closer look

Waylon Smithers was actually animated as a Black man in his very first appearance on The Simpsons, due to a colorist making a mistake during the rushed production of the early episodes, prompting series creator Matt Groening to change his skin to yellow for the rest of the series because he thought having a Black character act as a subservient, deeply sycophantic lackey to a wealthy white billionaire would be horribly offensive; this quick, behind-the-scenes pivot inadvertently saved the iconic animated sitcom from dealing with a massive racial controversy right out of the gate in nineteen eighty-nine, proving that even in the chaotic, completely unhinged world of early adult animation, someone occasionally possessed enough basic social awareness to realize that certain visual gags were going to age about as well as a carton of milk left out in the blazing summer sun