Glenn Howerton Defends ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Controversial Episodes: ‘A True Bigot Probably Won’t Be Able to Appreciate the Humor Behind the Show’

Of all the questions It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has posed through its now-20-year run — “Can they do that?” and “Is that Danny DeVito’s asshole?” chief among them — none have proven as consequential as that of the show’s Lethal Weapon episodes: Are demonstrably terrible people using blackface and redface enough to constitute satire, or do these displays do more harm than good? 

The answer to the latter question, at least in the eyes of streamers, is a resounding yes, with Hulu yanking Season Six’s “Dee Reynolds: Shaping America’s Youth” and Season Nine’s “The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon Six,” from its platform back in 2020. But to star Glenn Howerton, Always Sunny’s legacy is more complicated than their corporate overlords can comprehend. The Dennis Reynolds actor opened up about the show’s more controversial installments during a recent sitdown with T, the New York Times’ style magazine, arguing that The Gang’s repeated usage of racist caricatures is “probably” okay, as it likely didn’t strike a chord with actual racists. 

“A true bigot probably won’t be able to appreciate the humor behind the show,” Howerton told features director M.H. Miller of the episodes, which respectively feature Rob Mac and Kaitlin Olson in blackface and DeVito in redface. 

It remains unclear how many true bigots Howerton consulted before crafting this take, but the actor isn’t the only Always Sunny star to stand by their usage of blackface and other offensive jokes in recent years. Lampooned in Season 15’s “The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 7,” in which the Paddy’s Pub crew attempts to create a blackface-free follow-up to their first two Lethal Weapon flicks, Charlie Day also alluded to the controversy during his appearance on Hot Ones Versus last month when asked if there were any poorly-aged episodes he’d “delete” if given the chance. 

“First of all, that’s impossible, I would delete none of them from existence,” he replied before offering to “take on whatever hot sauce thing I gotta do.” 

Day’s insistence on chosing scorching-hot wings over the heat of his team’s controversies — and Howerton’s defense, for that matter — mark a stark contrast from just a few years ago, when Mac admitted that these works may have crossed the line. 

“I find that my barometer is off for what’s appropriate sometimes in situations because, like, we’ve spent 15 years making a show about the worst people on the planet, and because it’s satire, we lean so heavily into this idea,” the actor, formerly known as Rob McElhenney, explained in an FX press conference ahead of the show’s 15th season, per Deadline. “We are always, like, right on the razor’s edge, but that’s the only way that satire works.” 

We’ll have to wait and see how these episodes continue to age — or just stay tuned for whatever Lethal Weapon 8 may hold.