remember when Smithers was black?

"Black Smithers" was on the Simpsons tonight.
It was his debut!
check it (from Wiki, Wiki):

In his first appearance, in the episode "Homer's Odyssey", Smithers was mistakenly made African-American by the production team in Korea. The studios have claimed that Smithers was intended to be yellow, and that his first appearance should be considered suntanned.

huh. I always (mistakenly) assumed they chose to reconsider Smithers' character: gay, black, subservient and slightly evil. Thinking it might be a bit much and just decided to strike one of the four down...

PS This early episode was really unsatisfying. The crude animation also distracted me more than it used to. I feel spoiled.