Mac’s turning point was in the season 11 finale two-parter, “The Gang Goes to Hell,” in which he finally comes out of the closet, only to go back into it at the end. It makes for some fun comedy, but there were plenty of fans who were disappointed that one of Mac’s first bits of actual character development was undone just a few minutes later.
“I didn’t expect it, but there was a massive outpouring from our LGBTQ fans, who were really upset. They felt like, ‘Oh, wow, he finally came out … This is a really fun and cool character,'” McElhenny explained. “That made them feel like it was a chance for us to do something different, and we put him back in the closet. We thought about it over the off-season, and I realized, ‘Man, that is a bummer. We had an opportunity there, and we screwed it up.'”
Even beyond just being nice to Mac and queer viewers, the issue also reflected a basic rule of comedy: You can only make the same sort of jokes for so long before they grow stale. They mined a few years’ worth of comedy out of Mac’s hypocrisy, but now it was time to do something new. This was all addressed in season 12’s, “Hero or Hate Crime?” in which Mac realizes, through an absurd legal loophole, that he can claim a winning lottery ticket just by saying he’s gay. He comes out of the closet, chanting, “Gay Mac rules! Gay rich Mac!” with the attitude of someone clearly just saying this for the money. But then after he wins and the gang gives him the chance to return to the closet, Mac refuses. “Yeah. I’m … I’m gay,” he says. “Actually feels pretty good.”