Kids Channel Nickelodeon Debuts Married Gay Couple in Cartoon Series 'The Loud House'
The children's television network Nickelodeon plans to introduce a biracial, same-sex couple into one of its newest cartoon shows.
According to the entertainment news outlet Variety, Nickelodeon is on the midst of introducing the network's first-ever married same-sex couple in the cartoon series "The Loud House," which premiered this May.
The cartoon couple, Harold and Howard McBride, are voiced by comedian Wayne Brady and actor Michael McDonald and will debut in the series when the new episode "Overnight Success" airs on Wednesday.
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As the series focuses on the life of the show's protagonist, Lincoln Loud, and his 10 sisters, Harold and Howard McBride are the parents of one of Loud's friends, Clyde McBride.
A 51-second excerpt of the episode was posted to Twitter and shows Harold and Howard walking their son to Loud's house for a slumber party.
Time to make history indeed! First married gay couple on a Nickelodeon cartoon!https://t.co/CI5NPmd7JU
— ? (@Ieodavinci) July 16, 2016
In the scene, Clyde rings the doorbell. When Loud answers the door, he greets them by saying, "Hey, Clyde. Hi, Mr. McBride. Hi, Mr. McBride."
As the scene concludes, Harold and Howard give Clyde all the things he will need for the sleepover, including a sleeping bag, humidifier, dehumidifier, white noise machine, ear plugs, inhaler, allergy medications and a list of phone numbers where they can be reached in case of an emergency. Lastly, Harold and Howard gave Clyde a photo of themselves since they won't be there to tuck him in that night.
Howard, who is tall and white, is portrayed as being effeminate. Meanwhile, Harold, who is short and black, is portrayed as being more emotionally stable. Both parents are portrayed as protective.
Before the couple leaves Clyde at Loud's house for the night, Howard gets on his knees and cries as he hugs Clyde goodbye.
"He is growing up so fast," Howard says as he cries and embraces his partner.
Harold responds: "Come on Howie, remember what Dr. Lopez said about letting go. Now, let go."
"I love him so much," Howard says, as he leaves the house and sobs uncontrollably.
Vanity Fair reports that Nickelodeon hinted at same-sex relationships before.
During the end of the series "Legend of Korra," it appeared as though Korra and Asami became a romantic couple. But as the two characters were not married, the network never made the romance between the two explicitly clear.
Vanity Fair also points out that the show had been pulled off television and its final episodes aired only online.
The same-sex couple displayed in "The Loud House," comes after the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network have already aired explicitly gay characters in some of their programming.
