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The Levy’s main concept for the show was to show a town that was without prejudice - an aspirational perspective to make more palpable what it could be like if there wasn’t strong undercurrents of ideologies like racism and homophobia.

The Levys were following an uniquely Canadian comedy tradition about not punching down people in small towns. If Schitt's Creek had been American there would be a strong chance that there would have been homophobic character who becomes the butt of the joke, who's there to make the audience go "Haha, stupid hick."

Dan Levy said in an interview with Vulture:

“I have no patience for homophobia,” he explained. “As a result, it’s been amazing to take that into the show. We show love and tolerance. If you put something like that out of the equation, you’re saying that doesn’t exist and shouldn’t exist.” As a sign of validation, Levy, who created the sitcom with his father, Eugene Levy, received many letters from viewers who specifically mentioned how the lack of prejudice against the couple made them do some self-reflection. “The letters we’ve been receiving are from people who realized their beliefs were biased or homophobic or bigoted, and we created a space where love and acceptance is paramount,” he said. “We’ve watched the growth and comfort of people who outwardly live their lives and aren’t being feared of being targeted. And it has a ripple effect into people’s homes.”

If the Levys had gone the way of punching down onto small town people, I don't think Schitts Creek would have been as effective in getting people to re-evaluate the beliefs.

Isaac Cabe's article As 'Schitt's Creek' Ends, Let's Appreciate Some Canadian Comedy, Eh? really highlights this uniquely Canadian comedy tradition.

LMAO, I say it all the time when shitting on Disney virtue signaling, stopping a show to get up on a soapbox just makes the show worse and convinces no one of anything they don't already believe, and making them a trope doesn't really help either

If you want to actually reduce bigotry, you normalize it... And apparently they succeeded, since the only time I remember thinking about it was going "oh wait, is he bi?" When they introduced that (I remember it being slightly ambiguous for a couple scenes)

Ok, the show deserves some credit when you put it in this context... Looking back at what I remember from the show, they did it very well.

Like at first, he's stereotypical and super flamboyant, but they're all caricatures anyways. Playing into the tropes probably made his orientation less threatening for someone a bit homophobic. They just let that sit for a while without any romance on his part

Then I think brought up he had an ex gf after a season or two? Which is a nice curve ball to make people question their assumptions, and then they eased into it and made the plotline with the ridiculous sitcom love triangle, and they made it about that while having very little actual pda on screen...I remember a kiss or two, but it was pretty overshadowed by the awkward situation... An amazing way to desensitize someone (it feels weird because it's awkward sitcom nonsense, so a good person a little weirded out by seeing guys kiss doesn't feel called out, and the emotions get triggered and directed to an appropriate target)

I binge sitcoms over a few days while I work or game, so I remember less as the seasons go on... It was good on the surface, I'm going to give it a rewatch looking deeper

Thanks for sharing. My biggest passion is the way technology could shape us for the better, so I find this very cool