There was a widespread debate among fans of the series as to who the character coming out of the closet would be, also similar to how they years earlier debated who shot the character Mr. Burns. Matt Groening joked at the Comic-Con convention that "it's Homer". Many fans correctly guessed that it would be one of Homer's sisters-in-law, either Patty or Selma, while others believed it to be Waylon Smithers. It had for a long time been hinted on the show that the Smithers character was gay and in love with his boss Mr. Burns. However, as "The Baltimore Sun" writes, it would have been unlikely for Smithers to be the outed character because it would not have been a surprise to fans, and his love for his heterosexual boss would prevent him from marrying another person. Patty was suspected by fans and the press because she had not often been seen dating men on the show. The tabloid newspaper "The Sun" revealed already in September 2004 that the character who would come out was Patty, though this was regarded as a rumor, and Jean would not confirm it. Bookmakers in the United States and the United Kingdom took bets on which character would be uncovered as homosexual, and if there would be a kiss featured in the episode—BetUS laid odds at four to five that it was Patty, while Smithers had four to one odds and Ned Flanders fifteen to one odds. A kiss was given odds of seven to five. BetUS said gamblers made more than 900 bets on the coming-out on their website. According to "The Baltimore Sun", another betting site named PaddyPower.com "stopped taking wagers because so much money was being placed on ." Jean told "The Advocate" that he thought it was "an insane thing for someone to take bets on a result that can be determined by other people", referring to the "Simpsons" staff, "and could be changed by them at the last minute."