Family Guy follows ‘transphobic’ episode by taking aim at ‘network TV gays’
Family Guy
Family Guy has mocked “network TV gays” in its latest episode just weeks after it came under fire for its treatment of a trans character.
In the latest episode, titled ‘Disney’s The Reboot’, Family Guy imagines that the network was bought by Disney, which means the long-running show is due a shake-up.
The episode charts an imagined reboot called Lois which focuses on the family living in an alternative version of reality where the focus is on Peter’s wife.
For the most part, the episode takes cheap shots at feminism by depicting Peter as emasculated by his wife.
However, one of the strangest moments in the episode comes when gay couple Quagmire and Joe jog towards the family’s home.
‘Network TV gays’ can only ‘adopt and pucker-kiss’, Family Guy says.
“Oh, hello gay couple who’s constantly jogging,” Lois says in the episode. “What are you up to this morning?”
“Just adopting and pucker-kissing,” Quagmire answers.
“Yeah, we’re network TV gay, so all we can do is adopt children and pucker-kiss, no tongue stuff. Isn’t that right, sweetie?” Joe says.
Lois then announces that she is off to work at her “high-powered job at a fashion magazine, greeting card company or winery”.
We’re network TV gay, so all we can do is adopt children and pucker-kiss, no tongue stuff.
The episode comes less than a year after Family Guy creators said they would be “phasing out” gay jokes from the hit animated show.
In an episode aired in January of this year called ‘Trump Guy’, Peter Griffin comes face-to-face with president Donald Trump, who tells him: “You’re Peter Griffin from Family Guy. Many children have learned their favourite Jewish, black and gay jokes by watching your show over the years.”
Griffin responds: “In fairness, we’ve been trying to phase out the gay stuff.” Producers later confirmed to TVLine that the quip was more than just a gag.
‘Transphobic’ jokes persist in the animated show.
However, judging by an episode aired earlier this month, creators have no intention of phasing out jokes about transgender people.
In the episode – titled ‘Bri-Da’ – Quagmire’s transgender mother Ida sits at a bar looking at pornographic images on her phone. When the bartender tells her she isn’t allowed to look at porn at the bar, she replies: “Oh, it’s OK, I’m transgender.”
“Oh, I had no idea,” the bartender says. “Do whatever you want all the time.”
Later in the episode, Brian resumes his sexual relationship with Ida and takes her to a restaurant where a waiter desperately tries to figure out if she his a woman or not.
They then go back to a hotel, but Brian becomes worried that people will discover he is having “goofball sex” when room service comes to the door. He later decides to go public with the relationship after his family tell him that it’s 2019 and “things that were gross five years ago are now heroic.”
The episode came under fire from trans activists, including author Amanda Jette Knox, who tweeted: “This is actually super awful and transphobic. As a mom of a trans kid who loves this show, I’m disappointed.”
