The Golden Girls writer Marc Cherry looked back at his time working on the beloved show, and he revealed that he received “death threats” over an episode that featured an LGBTQ+ wedding.
While appearing on the Tuesday, August 19, episode of the “Soapy” podcast, Cherry, 63, recalled the season 6, episode 14, episode he wrote with then-writing partner Jamie Wooten called “Sisters of the Bride.”
“They had introduced the character of Blanche’s gay brother in a previous season,” Cherry explained of the character Clayton (Monte Markham). During his season 4 debut, Clayton told Blanche (Rue McClanahan) that he had gotten divorced and he confided in Rose (Betty White) that he’s gay. He eventually told Blanche the truth about his sexuality, though she didn’t immediately accept it.
“We came up with the idea, let’s bring him back. And she thinks it was a phase and he’s probably over it,” Cherry said of the season 6 episode. “But he comes back with a guy, and the premise episode is he’s announcing they’re getting married.”
After Cherry noted that gay marriage was “very much illegal” at the time, he explained that many gay couples had non-legally binding ceremonies. “So we do our episode and, if we weren’t the first, we were only the second show to do something about gay marriage,” the Desperate Housewives creator said.
While Blanche initially believed that Clayton’s relationship was a “phase,” the episode ended with her supporting their marriage.
“They called us up to the office a few days after the episode aired, and they said, ‘So you guys are getting death threats,'” Cherry recalled of the response to the episode.
He also explained that he got letters in which they were called slurs. “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 said.
Additionally, Cherry and Wooten had to unlist their numbers after Wooten was called “horrible things.”
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“Sometimes the progress comes at a little bit of a cost to those who do it,” Cherry said, adding that he knew the backlash would eventually be worth it.
Cherry concluded, “It’s a privilege to be in this business and to be a part of those things, with the occasional death threat thrown in just for fun.”
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 21, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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