Howard and Harold McBride

Howard and Harold are helicopter parents to Clyde and tend to be overprotective of him. Howard feels the need to protect Clyde at all times and never lets him out of sight, unless he is with Lincoln or at school.[3] Howard is also sensitive and overemotional, often needing Harold to get him to chill out when he gets worked up. Harold's demeanor is the opposite; he is straightforward and even-tempered. Both of the McBrides have a fondness for cats and have adopted two, Cleopawtra and Nepurrtiti (named after Cleopatra and Nefertiti, two Egyptian queens).[4] Their surname is ironic because a bride is a newlywed woman, but they are two married men.

A running gag is the McBrides' impractically large and ever-expanding repertoire of hobbies and former jobs, which increases to include any skill set that an episode's plot demands. Whenever one of the Loud children learns something new from Howard and Harold, they will simply say that "Mr. McBride" taught them, leaving it intentionally ambiguous as to which dad possesses each skill.[5] The only constant hobby is Harold's talent for preparing home-cooked meals for Clyde and Howard, particularly one of Clyde's favourite foods: Swiss chard frittatas.[3] The McBrides are foils to Lincoln Loud's parents, who are less worrisome and more sensible despite having eleven children instead of one.

Howard and Harold made their on-screen debut in "Overnight Success", in which they bring Clyde to a sleepover at Lincoln's house and Howard has trouble letting him leave.[6] They had been mentioned previously in "A Tale of Two Tables" and "Hand-Me-Downer", which were the first two full-length episodes of The Loud House to be released online.[7]

Michael McDonald (left) and Wayne Brady (right) voice Howard and Harold.

Howard and Harold were some of the first supporting characters to be created for the show. Series creator Chris Savino stated in an interview with Geeks OUT that he made the McBrides gay because "The Loud House is about family and we decided very early that we would try to represent all kinds of modern family."[7] Howard and Harold's sexual orientation is intentionally never mentioned on the program, and they are portrayed as any other couple would be. They do not exhibit stereotypical mannerisms of gay men, such as exaggerated effeminacy and flamboyance. According to Shoma Chaudhury's Catch News, Howard and Harold were created with the goal of "introducing children to LGBT characters who are both 'normal' and likeable."[8] Amanda Cordner of Viacom International, which produces the show, called the casual inclusion of Howard and Harold part of The Loud House's "genius" and called the program "an accurate reflection of modern life; it holds up a mirror so kids can see themselves... [LGBT representation] is increasingly normal, and that's the brilliance of it."[9] A study conducted by Nickelodeon's EVP of consumer insights, Sujata Luther, in October 2016 used the characters as an example of how Nickelodeon "is continuously shaping its shows and digital services to meet the changing face of its viewers."[10]

Critical responses to the characters have been positive. Time reported in July 2016 that "people are thrilled about Nickelodeon's decision" to include a gay couple.[11] Kaitlyn Hayes of PinkNews wrote in her review of The Loud House that their portrayal in "such a natural and accurate way still puts a huge smile on our faces."[12] Radio Times reported that the social networking site Twitter had given rise to many "overwhelmingly positive" tweets about the couple.[13] Laura Bradley of Vanity Fair stated that The Loud House "handles the topic [of same-sex marriage] in exactly the right way...this kind of casual representation in children's programming is a milestone."[14] De Elizabeth of Teen Vogue wrote, "The best part is that the show doesn't treat these characters any differently, or even introduce them with a heavy asterisk about their marital status."[15] The Frisky's Tai Gooden noted that "kids who have two dads (or moms) will be more than thrilled to see a family they can identify with on TV."[16]

Commenting on the McBride parents' debut, the staff of Rotten Tomatoes expressed hopes that the two characters would continue to make prominent appearances.[17] Writing for The A.V. Club, William Hughes stated that he viewed Howard and Harold as more significant than previous LGBT characters in children's media, since they are recurring and not one-off characters like most others.[18] The vocal performances of Michael McDonald and Wayne Brady have also been positively reviewed; Bustle's Jordana Lipsitz stated that "the show could not have picked better actors to portray" Howard and Harold.[19]

The characters have also been received well outside of the United States. The French magazine Yagg stated that the McBrides were "brilliantly brought into the plot" and that they had "conquered" fans overseas.[20] The Spanish news site Fórmula TV wrote, "the milestone is not only given by the sexual orientation and gender of the couple, but also by their skin colors, as it is an interracial marriage."[21] Viacom Media Networks, which distributes the series internationally, responded to the media's support of the characters by stating that "we're 'Loud' and proud of our commitment to LGBT representation."[22]

Like the inclusion of LGBT characters on other children's programs, the inclusion of Howard and Harold McBride on The Loud House have been met with criticism from a particular group; the One Million Moms division of the American Family Association objected to scenes featuring the McBride parents and unsuccessfully pushed for the episode in which they first appeared to be edited to exclude the couple,[23] saying that "Nickelodeon should stick to entertaining instead of pushing an agenda."[24] Wayne Brady commented on the issue in an interview with The Arizona Republic, stating that "it's ridiculous in 2016 an animated series would rankle so many people because it happens to depict something that actually exists in real life."[25]

Episodes focusing on Howard and Harold were pulled from Nickelodeon's African channel.[26][27] Other episodes in which the characters are featured or mentioned briefly are edited so that the McBride parents are not included. This decision was criticized by fans from South Africa, where gay marriage has been legal since 2006. Viacom stated that, since the feed reaches other African markets where homosexuality is suppressed, they would risk losing their broadcasting license by showing Howard and Harold.[28] Their introductory episode was made available on the South African DStv's video on demand service following the controversy.[29] The Arabic dub of the series never aired episodes with the McBride parents, but, however, modifies dialogue so that Howard speaks with a female voice and is referred to as Clyde's mother.[4] The McBrides are the second pair of children's characters whose same-sex relationship has been censored for foreign markets; the first was Ruby and Sapphire of Steven Universe.[20]

In June 2017, The Loud House and five other children's television shows featuring LGBT characters were censored in Kenya by the Kenya Film Classification Board.[30] The series was at the top of the Kenya Film Classification Board's blacklist, and a complaint from the KFCB argued that The Loud House tries to "normalize, glamorize, and even glorify homosexual behavior."[31] Viacom publicly responded, saying that they respected "the varied cultures and regulatory codes of the markets in which we operate" but would "be making the content available on catch up services" in markets where broadcasting codes allow.[32] In the same month, a youth counsellor from Abuja complained to the News Agency of Nigeria about The Loud House and other children's series featuring LGBT themes, calling them "subtle campaigns disguised in forms of cartoons to capture the minds of children."[33]

The Loud House's portrayal of Howard and Harold McBride led the series to be nominated for Outstanding Individual Episode at the 28th GLAAD Media Awards and for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming at the 29th GLAAD Media Awards.[34][35]

In October 2016, Howard and Harold's introduction was named one of the five best LGBT moments in children's cartoons by South Florida Gay News.[36] In May 2017, The Loud House's portrayal of the McBrides was nominated for a Vision Award from NAMIC (National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications).[37]

The widest viewership ever for an episode of The Loud House was 2.28 million for "Two Boys and a Baby" on July 19, 2016; this was the first episode to air after Howard and Harold were announced.[38] The writers of the magazine SOHH examined this and proposed the question, "are [Nickelodeon executives] looking at reality or just trying to get ratings?"[39]