“Worried about crossing a line”: Glenn Howerton opens up about the controversial scene in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia 

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 6 Episode 3, titled The Gang Buys a Boat, portrays one scene which eventually becomes a talking point among fans. This controversial scene involves Dennis and Mac planning a romantic scenario on a boat with women. Dennis claims they won’t face much rejection because of “the implication.”

Mac doesn’t understand and asks what that means, and Dennis elaborates that being on a boat in the middle of nowhere means the women wouldn’t say no — not because he would do anything — but because of the implication that something could happen if they did.

As per Screen Rant, at the 20th anniversary celebration of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Glenn Howerton, who plays the character of Dennis, revealed how he initially resisted the scene altogether and was worried he might be endorsing something insensitive:

"I remember thinking the implication conversation that you guys wrote was super, super funny, so, but maybe I was, like, worried about crossing a line or something with that."

Read on to know the details of what the actor said about the controversial scene.

Glenn Howerton opens up about the controversial scene in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

The above-mentioned quote from Glenn Howerton at the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia 20th Anniversary panel sheds light on one of the show’s most infamous and controversial scenes — the “implication” conversation from Season 6 Episode 3, The Gang Buys a Boat. The scene is played with pitch-black humour, and though a pun was intended, it was deeply unsettling and therefore became a major talking point.

At the panel, Howerton revealed that he initially resisted doing the scene — particularly the way it was visually and tonally constructed — because it went beyond dialogue into suggestive action or implication:

"I do remember that with the with the cruise ship scene, with the young girl, where I actually had, where you actually had to see the implication. And actually, that was one that I actually was like, 'Please, guys, please don't.' There's just certain things that as a human being, you know, it's just tough to stop."

He further acknowledged that the writing was indeed funny, but he was still concerned about whether the character was crossing a line and to what extent. This suggests that the artist is socially responsible and aware of the real-world impact of such dark humour.

Glenn Howerton did the right thing, pointing this out in It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia: Here's how

In the “implication” scene in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dennis is actually walking a terrifying line between dark humour and the portrayal of predatory behaviour. Dennis has always been portrayed as disturbingly calculative, and the show often lets his behaviour linger just on the edge of outright criminality.

Moreover, the scene visually and tonally suggests that he is going to commit something — or already has. That’s what Glenn Howerton seems to have taken issue with: this wasn’t just dark comedy, it was dangerously close to realism in its implication.

Howerton’s comment, “Please, guys, please don’t,” is key. It shows that even in a show infamous for pushing the limits of comedy and morality, actors still have personal boundaries — especially when it comes to material that blurs the lines of consent, violence, and age. Moreover, Howerton has frequently emphasised in interviews that he is nothing like Dennis Reynolds.

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