Rob McElhenny Shares If It's Always Sunny's Mac Really Is Gay

Summary Mac's sexuality in IASIP is comedic yet complex, showcasing his struggles while maintaining his terrible personality traits.

Mac's journey of coming out as gay is portrayed through humor and poignant moments, emphasizing his desire for acceptance from his father.

Rob McElhenny's careful approach to Mac's character development as a gay individual in IASIP ensures true inclusivity without changing his essential jerk persona.

"Is Mac gay?" is a question that just about every character on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia wonders at some point in the series. A show as long-running as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia with its 16 seasons sees many of even its most morally dubious characters undergo one change or another. Rickety Cricket goes from a priest into a broken-down "street urchin"; Frank and Charlie frequently spend time apart only to come back together; Dennis even disappears from the show for half a season.

Of all these characters, Mac may be the one who undergoes the most significant changes. At one point, Mac went from generally fit to noticeably overweight. He then became extremely jacked, with a bodybuilder's physique. Most notably, Mac has sought to discover who he's attracted to. In perfectly IASIP fashion, Mac couches his real struggles with identity in dogmatic certitudes that are a reflection of his terrible personality rather than his sexuality.

Related Rob McElhenney Is Right About 1 Controversial Always Sunny Episode Being Great One controversial IASIP episode has always divided fans of the show, but Rob McElhenney quickly shut those fans down on The Always Sunny Podcast.

Mac Comes Out As Gay Several Times In It's Always Sunny

It Was Hardest For The It's Always Sunny Character To Come Out To His Father

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Mac has actually come out as gay multiple times throughout the show. In the two-part season 11 finale, Mac has a threesome with two men and, immediately after, tells his friends, "Welp, I'm gay," who all respond with variations of "No s**t." Therein lies the joke of IASIP; it's not a joke on Mac for being gay, it's a joke on Mac for thinking he is somehow hiding a part of himself that everyone else is aware of.

Like everyone in IASIP, Mac is so conceited that he could not fathom that the Gang would know anything about him he didn't. However, the second part of the season finale retracts his coming out of the closet and Mac is once again happy to pretend to be straight, much to the exasperation of everyone present.

In season 12, episode 6, "Hero or Hate Crime", Mac comes out as gay to win a lottery ticket during arbitration, which the Gang calls out as a ploy, assuming he'll go back to the closet as soon as he cashes the ticket. Instead, he decides to stay out, and the episode ends on an unusually poignant and hopeful note. From then on, Mac is out to everyone except his father, whom he has attempted to impress his whole life.

In season 13, episode 10, "Mac Finds His Pride", Mac performs a moving dance routine to express to his father his sexuality. While his father won't abide him, the dance moves Frank to tears, who says, "I get it." It may be the sincerest moment of the series (and a reminder of just what caliber of actor Danny Devito is when he isn't wielding a toe knife).

Rob McElhenny Didn't Want Mac's Sexuality To Change His Character

Rob McElhenny has spoken at length about Mac's sexuality in the series. To Rolling Stone he said,

"It felt good that we were recognizing a part of our audience in a way that was not pandering, that wasn't offensive or upsetting or a caricature. We weren't creating a gay character for comedic effect, that was there just to be gay and to be funny because he was gay, but a very complex, very disturbed, very f*****-up and awful character, who happens to be gay. And we ran with that."

Mac is not funny because he is gay, Mac is funny and he's gay. His sexuality has nothing to do with how the audience is supposed to feel about him. There's an obvious example of this in season 9, episode 5, "Mac Day", when Mac's cousin Country Mac proudly comes out to the Gang, "I'm into dudes! Loud and proud brother," and they are all ecstatic to hear it. They don't dislike gay people; they dislike Mac.

When it came to constructing a character who was gay in their universe, McElhenny told EW,

"I think making sure that we are very careful to not change the fact that Mac is an abhorrent person. And that was something we made a concerted effort on, to make sure we were servicing a very large part of our community, which is the LGBTQ community, and we wanted to make sure that we were having a character who was going to come out in a way that would feel satisfying and be in the tone of the Sunny, while also not just all of a sudden dramatically changing Mac's character, because that just wouldn't resonate with Sunny. And I feel like that's something I hear over and over again from our fans, who say, 'Hey, man, it's great that Mac came out and it's great that you didn't change him, that he's still so unlikable and such an a‑‑hole and that everyone hates him.' That is true inclusion, as opposed to saying he's come out and now all of a sudden he's this great guy. It doesn't work like that. True inclusion is bringing the LGBTQ down into the gutter with us."

Clearly, McElhenny and the rest of the crew on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia have a good handle on how to make Mac a great LGBTQ+ character and a great character in general.