Family Guy: Hypocrisy on Display

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane delights in exploiting tragedy for the sake of “humor.” Just last week, Family Guy depicted half of lead character Peter Griffin’s head being blown off — immediately after Griffin reads a book titled The Life of JFK.The episode also indulged in MacFarlane’s trademark bigotry and sexual perversion, and included “jokes” about defecating on Jewish synagogues, implying the Pope is a child molester, and a musical interlude set in a strip club, complete with songs about “hos,” urination, and pubic hair. But on Tuesday, MacFarlane was suddenly singing a different tune. An unknown individual edited two separate — but entirely legitimate — clips from Family Guy together, then circulated them on the Internet. In one, Griffin is asked how he won the Boston Marathon (in the original episode, Griffin runs over marathon participants with his car); in the next, he is shown using his cell phone to set off explosions. MacFarlane responded by complaining that the altered clip was “abhorrent.” Mocking this real-life tragedy IS in horrible taste. But given the number of times MacFarlane himself has mocked tragedy, his proclamation seems less genuine concern than sanctimonious hypocrisy. The Family Guy creator refuses to admit the obvious: there would have been no way for someone to edit these clips together if Family Guy had not contained the scenes to begin with