Family Guy’s Trump episode lands show in fresh controversy

Throwing punches at Donald Trump is a favourite pastime of the American entertainment industry. But calling out the president’s hypocrisies has proved problematic for animated comedy Family Guy, which marked its 20th anniversary by recently staging an onscreen fight between Trump and its own obnoxious anti-hero, Peter Griffin.

“Many children have learned their favourite Jewish, black, and gay jokes by watching your show over the years,” a Monster Munch-hued cartoon Trump tells Griffin. “We’ve been trying to phase out the gay stuff,” replies Griffin. “But you know what? We’re a cartoon. You’re the president.” With “Trump Guy”, Family Guy was clearly keen to join in the liberal backlash against the commander-in-chief even as it handwaved aside its own forays into bad taste. What resulted was a masterclass in Hollywood cakeism from a series that today celebrates two decades of taboo-tweaking.

But so has it ever been with Seth Macfarlane’s homage to/ rip-off of The Simpsons. Since 1999, Family Guy has followed the adventures of Quahog, Rhode Island, dad Peter Griffin, wife Lois, and children Meg, Chris and villainous baby Stewie, and their laconic dog Brian. Macfarlane provides the voices of Peter, Stewie—who sounds like Dr Evil by way of Kenneth Branagh—and Brian the Dog (the closest to Mcfarlane’s actual speaking tones). Mila Kunis is the best known of the actressess to portray Meg, while Family Guy writer Alex Borstein plays Lois and actor Seth Green (Daniel “Oz” Osbourne from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) dunderheaded Chris.

Their performances are typically lighthearted—though not to the point where it conceals the often hardcore humour. Family Guy and spin-offs American Dad!and The Cleveland Show have merrily indulged in every imaginable gay, transphobic and ethnic joke (and a few unimaginable ones too).family Guy has done this even as Macfarlane has polished his credentials as an archetypal left-leaning Tinsel Town good guy. He has donated millions to causes such as American public radio and has campaigned for gay marriage.

The contradictions between his high-minded ideals and nobrow humour are clear. But, as the now 45-year-old Macfarlane surveys his $250m fortune, his 2013 gig hosting the Oscars and parallel career as Sinatra-style crooner, he may conclude that he’s done well for a blue-collar kid from Connecticut. Family Guy splashed down on a Sunday night, straight after John Elway led the Denver Broncos to the 1999 Super Bowl.

The post-super Bowl slot is among the most valuable in American broadcasting. Fox, keen to build on the success of The Simpsons, had plucked 25-year-old wunderkind Macfarlane from the obscurity of the Hannabarbera animation department and was wagering heavily on his youthful ambition.

Healthy first-night ratings of 22 million suggested the network’s confidence was well placed. Yet from the start Family Guy felt more throwback than leap forward. In the very first episode Griffin is sacked after drinking 38 beers at a stag party and then falling asleep at his job at the toy factory. He ends up in prison, where Macfarlane can’t resist a joke about “dropping the soap” in the shower.

There is also a gag about “GI Jew”—a toy soldier whining about bagels in a stereotypical Woody Allen accent. One week later, Family Guy confirmed its march against polite sensibilities with a scene in which a news anchor, believing she is off the air, looks at the camera and says, “I just don’t like black people.” It was Family Guy’s way of revealing to viewers that this was going to be a very different rollercoaster from The Simpsons. Season two starts with Peter suspecting that the butler who has baked him a cake might be gay. Later came episodes with names such as “Down Syndrome Girl” and “Iraq Lobster”. In 2004, Macfarlane, again voicing Griffin, would sing “I Need a Jew”—to the tune of “When You Wish Upon a Star” and containing the line “even though they killed my Lord”.

“How do you know I’m an accountant?” asks a character in the same instalment. “Hello…” responds Griffin. “Max Weinstein.” Macfarlane later defended “I Need a Jew”, stating he had screened it for two rabbis prior to airing. He added that “70 per cent” of his writing staff were Jewish.

But he generally shrugged aside the outrage and carried on. His resoluteness in the face of public outrage was hardened, it is tempting to conclude, by a remarkable narrow escape from the 9/11 World Trade Centre attacks. Waking hungover after a speech at his alma mater, Rhode Island School of Design, he had arrived late at Boston’s Logan airport and narrowly missed his flight to New York. THE INDEPENDENT

With “Trump

Guy”, Family

Guy was clearly keen to join in the liberal backlash against the commander-in-chief even as it handwaved aside its own forays into bad taste.