It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Didn’t Always Plan To Make Mac Gay – /Film

In the interview, McElhenney broke down the thought process behind the major decision, explaining that it already spoke to how he portrayed Mac over the years. “It was actually born more out of his intense, ultraconservative, right-leaning principles,” he explained, adding that taking the next step and revealing him to be gay was the show’s patented satirization of the “hard Christian conservative” coming out in full force. 

In “It’s Always Sunny” season 11 we were confronted with the fact that Mac is actually gay when he and the gang went on a Christian cruise led by a gay couple, who briefly convinced him to come out the closet. However, he returned to the closet by the end of the two-part finale as part of a running gag about Mac being in denial. The intention was not to make fun of the fact he was gay, but it led to a “massive outpouring from our LGBTQ fans, who were really upset,” according to McElhenney. He admitted that the show had “an opportunity there, and we screwed it up.” 

Later on, however, the show finally let Mac out of the closet for good, changing the status quo for the character indefinitely. McElhenney talked about how it felt finally finding the sweet spot for Mac: 

“It felt good that we were recognizing a part of our audience in a way that was not pandering, that wasn’t offensive or upsetting or a caricature. We weren’t creating a gay character for comedic effect, that was there just to be gay and to be funny because he was gay, but a very complex, very disturbed, very f*****-up and awful character, who happens to be gay. And we ran with that.“

Not only did they run with it, but McElhenney understood that the endeavor meant also upholding Mac’s deporable personality.