Burt Hummel

Burt Hummel

General Information
Gender:	Male
Hair Color:	Grey
Eye Color:	Green
Address:	415 Whitman Avenue Lima, Ohio 45802
Occupations:	Owner/Mechanic of Hummel Tires & Lube Congressman
Aliases:	Cheese Grits, Bubbles, Baboon Heart Hummel, Porcelain's Dad (Sue) A Little Birdie (Hiram) Starsky (himself)
Family & Friends
Family:	Kurt Hummel (son) Carole Hudson-Hummel(wife) Finn Hudson (stepson; deceased) Blaine Anderson (son-in-law) Unnamed granddaughter
Relationships:	Carole Hudson-Hummel(wife) Mrs. Hummel (late wife)
Friends:	Finn Hudson Will Schuester Emma Schuester Mike Chang Sr. Julia Chang Blaine Anderson Hiram Berry LeRoy Berry Rachel Berry
Enemies:	David Karofsky Lima School Board Sue Sylvester
Other Information
Interests:	Cars Mechanics Tools Football John Mellencamp
Weaknesses:	Homophobia directed at Kurt Heart problems
Series Information
First episode:	Preggers
Last episode:	Dreams Come True
Portrayer:	Mike O'Malley

Burt Hummel, United States Congressman, is a recurring character on Glee since its first season. He is the father of Kurt Hummel and the stepfather of the late Finn Hudson.

Burt's first wife died when Kurt was around eight years of age; in the second season, he marries Finn's mother, Carole Hudson in Furt. Burt is presented as a typical "man's man," a mechanic and a football fan. He is most noteworthy for often comforting his son and being very protective over Kurt (especially regarding his experiences after coming out as gay). In Grilled Cheesus, he almost died after suffering from a heart attack brought on by arrhythmia (irregular heart rhythm), causing him to go into a coma for a period of time. He does fully recover and starts taking better care of himself. In Season Three, Burt Hummel runs against Sue for the United States Congress and he wins, leaving Sue angered and distraught, for Sue was planning to diminish glee clubs within all state schools. In the episode Goodbye, Burt dances to Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) as a graduation gift to Kurt. In Season Four he reveals to Kurt that he has Prostate Cancer and Blaine promises to take care of Burt in Lima while Kurt is in New York. He beats it. In Season Five, he watches his son get engaged, while sadly losing the other.

He is portrayed by actor Mike O'Malley. He was a recurring character during all seasons, except the second season, when he was a main character. 

Biography

Acafellas

Burt is first mentioned by Kurt, who proudly reveals to his friends the new car his father just bought him. Unfortunately, after the window was smashed by Mercedes and Burt finds Kurt's collection of tiaras in the trunk, he takes the car back from Kurt as apparent punishment. Later on, Kurt mentions that Burt is replacing the car.

Preggers

Burt catches Kurt, along with Brittany and Tina dancing to Single Ladies in his bedroom in spandex costumes. Brittany attempts to explain it with a lie that Kurt is on the football team. Kurt then tells his father that Tina is his girlfriend. He tries to explain to his father that the two girls are helping him with an exercise. Burt seems to believe this and decides to buy a ticket for the big game and seems happy he is on the football team. After Kurt gets Finn to pull some strings and get him on the football team, it is demonstrated that Kurt is a surprisingly good kicker when he wins the deciding point for the team, making Burt proud and euphoric, remarking to Kurt afterward that he wishes his mother were there alive, and that she would have been proud of him. After the football game, Kurt admits that he is gay, but Burt says he already knows and accepts Kurt.

Wheels

Burt complains to Principal Figgins about Kurt not being able to sing Defying Gravity in Glee Club. Figgins is persuaded by Burt to let Kurt and Rachel go head to head. Just before the "diva-off," Burt gets an anonymous phone call, with the caller making homophobic comments. Kurt finds out and purposefully blows the audition for the song. When Burt finds out he becomes furious that his son threw his chance, especially after he went up to bat for him with the Principal and Will. Kurt, however, tells Burt that he did it so he wouldn't be emotionally hurt by the fact that his son is not only gay, but also doing a girl song. Burt is still disappointed that his son gave up his chance, but proud of his son's strength to give up something he loved for his father, telling Kurt that he is a lot like his mother.

Burt comforts his son Kurt

Home

During a Parent-Teacher conference, Kurt introduced Burt to Carole Hudson, who lost her own husband during the Gulf War, in the hopes that it would spark romance, and thus hoping that would result in him and Finn (who Kurt had a crush on) to grow closer. The plan works spectacularly as Burt and Carole fall in love with each other fast and hard. However, when Finn discovers the romance he is not pleased, afraid that Burt is erasing his deceased father's memory. Finn is initially cold towards Burt when the two families sit down for a 'family' dinner of sorts. However, he begins to warm up to Burt when they talk about sports. While Carole is pleased about this, Kurt feels left out and hurt by his father's new friendship with Finn. That night Burt confronts Kurt about his behavior. Kurt responds he couldn't remember the last time his father was that open with him. Burt tells Kurt that he would never change who he is, and that he expects Kurt to do the same for him. Kurt dismisses him with tears in his eyes, and as he leaves, Burt asks whether Kurt introduced him to Carole for their sake, or for his own (implying that he is aware of Kurt's feelings for Finn). Kurt suggests that he and Finn break Burt and Carole up, but Finn's attempt fails when his mother tells him that she is happy with Burt. When she later invites Burt over, Burt tells Finn that he really does love Carole and that he will do everything he can to make her happy. Accepting the relationship, Finn invites Burt to watch a basketball game, and sit in his deceased father's chair. 

Unknown to Finn and Burt, Kurt watches the father/son-like interaction, with tears in his eyes, apparently feeling as if he's lost his father.

Laryngitis

Kurt is upset when Burt takes Finn to a baseball game. He then starts going out with Brittany, dressing like Burt, speaking in a lower voice, and sings Pink Houses by John Mellencamp in Glee club in order to impress him. However, Kurt soon realizes that it doesn't get him any closer to his father. Out of worry for Kurt, Burt cancels some bonding time with Finn to find Kurt doing a spectacular rendition of Rose's Turn where he remarks that Kurt is an amazing singer and promises he'll try to spend more time with his son.

Theatricality

Carole and Finn move in with Kurt and Burt. After Kurt and Finn argue over the intimacy and decor in their room, Finn uses homophobic language to describe Kurt's furnishing choices. Burt overhears this and is furious. He aggressively tears into Finn for his behavior, refusing to listen to his protestations and tells him that Kurt will always come first to him. He then decides it was a bad idea to have Finn and his mother living with them and kicks Finn out of the house.

Personality

Like his son, Burt is a very caring individual and above all, loving towards his son who he treasures above all else. Having lost the love of his life when their son was young, Burt has never quite gotten over the loss. As such he has done his best to be a good father, perhaps to the point of spoiling Kurt such as buying him expensive designer clothing and a very impressive car (a Lincoln Navigator) for his sweet 16.

While Burt does not pretend to fully understand Kurt, he is very accepting of his gay son. However, Burt fears for how Kurt might suffer because of his sexuality. As such, he is immensely proud of Kurt for being as resilient and strong as he is, which Burt says he gets from his mother. He also says that even though he wished he could take him out to games, he is still proud of him and for being in the glee club.

While Burt is generally fair-minded and reasonable, he is quick to anger when Kurt is victimized in any way, and is fiercely protective of him. When Kurt was denied the chance to sing Defying Gravity, Burt angrily confronted Mr. Schuester and the principal for discrimination against his son. When Finn, in a moment of anger, raged at Kurt and called his choices of decoration "faggy," Burt exploded in anger, throwing Finn out of his home for his homophobic behavior. Burt showed a similar reaction to when Dave Karofsky insulted Kurt with a limp-wrist hand gesture, going so far as to throwing the teenage boy against a wall and threatening to hurt him for his transgressions against Kurt. This violent behavior appears to stem partly from a feeling of guilt for not protecting his son earlier in life, as alluded to in his confrontation with Finn in Theatricality. Although Burt does his best to be a good father to Kurt, there is no doubt there they are very different people, making the things they have in common rare.