It may have been a half-hour comedy, but in its seven years on the air, The Golden Girls tackled many controversial issues, including racism, depression and addiction.
But one episode went too far, Marc Cherry, who wrote for the 37-time Emmy-winning show, revealed on the Tuesday, August 19 episode of the Soapy podcast.
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In the 1991 episode, “Sister of the Bride,” Blanche’s (Rue McClanahan) gay brother Clayton (Monte Markham) announces he and his boyfriend are throwing a non-legally binding wedding ceremony even though “gay marriage was still very much illegal,” Cherry, 63, noted.
Days after the Season 6 episode, in which Blanche is forced to face her homophobia, aired, “they called us up to the office and they said, ‘Um, so you guys are getting death threats,’” Cherry revealed.
“They literally showed us a letter that was written ‘to those f**king Jew producers of Golden Girls.’ To which I responded, ‘That’s weird. I’m not Jewish,’ ” he quipped.
The backlash was so bad, they had to unlist their phone numbers, Cherry added, but another writer got “a phone call from someone who said horrible things to him.”
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“So sometimes the progress comes at a little bit of a cost to those who do it,” Cherry, who also created Desperate Housewives, pointed out.
“It’s a privilege to be in this business and to be a part of those things,” he added, “with the occasional death threat thrown in just for fun!”
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