Fox's Animation Domination Has Holiday Cheer for All: Homophobia, Strippers, and Bloody Rapture
Flashback guest appearance by Herbert
Fox aired an all-new Animation Domination block last night, and offered up a decidedly mixed bag of humor.
Now before people try and tell me that I have no sense of humor, I feel the need to go on record and say that I found some of this really funny. And I found just enough of it over the line to ruin the whole evening. Let’s start with the newest member of the comedy block, The Cleveland Show.
A couple weeks back, we had mentioned that The Cleveland Show had raised the ire of some trans activists at The Bilerico Project who wondered where GLAAD was with these shows. GLAAD eventually responded to those concerns with a statement that they had ongoing issues with Fox concerning their Sunday night programming, and had scheduled meetings with Fox on that topic which should have been held last week.
Our Director of Entertainment Media, Taj Paxton, had a meeting with producers of The Cleveland Show and Family Guy scheduled and also contacted them after this specific episode aired. The meeting is set for next week is part of an ongoing discussion that GLAAD is having with Fox regarding consistent homophobic and transphobic jokes in its animated programming. The problematic transgender episode is one of several instances that Taj and her team will be discussing with them - as well as advocating for more fair LGBT inclusion on the show.
Obviously, they didn’t make a great impression on them, because The Cleveland Show that aired this week should have never seen the light of day in the form viewers saw.
The gay segment was nearly standalone in the episode, and frankly, most of it had some seriously chuckle-worthy jokes. I was impressed that Rallo understood gays and passed no judgment even in an episode where they’re billing him as young enough to believe in Santa. And the bits with the wife and the beard were laugh-out-loud funny.
The problem comes when Cleveland chooses to compare this “homosexual Christmas party” with the last one he went to. You get a flashback to his days on Family Guy, and him in a room with Herbert singing “Silent Night” to a bunch of children. Herbert is an established pedophile on the show, and the fact that the title character equates a homosexual with a pedophile is grossly irresponsible on the part of the writers.
The scene with Herbert was throwaway – there was no reason in the world for that to have been included as it didn’t advance the plot in any way and while I assume they only wrote it for laughs, it's a noxious joke because it once again confuses and equates being gay with being a pedophile.
And anyone that says that the audience of this show is sophisticated enough to tell the difference is missing the point. The idea that gay men are child molesters is something we've been fighting for decades and as anyone who pays attention to the battle for gay rights knows, that bigoted belief is one that some folks on the religious right are still more than happy to exploit.
Another point that skated past me was just how raunchy these shows were – both the Cleveland Show and Family Guy went to strip clubs. The tamer Cleveland Show clip seems to show vacuum-powered strippers.
But it is the Family Guy episode, with Carter finally having the bachelor party he never had forty years ago, that takes the cake. With a stripper gyrating in front of him, Carter questions whether he should “just shove the money inside her” and then asks when he can hit her. To stretch out the joke about shoving money into a stripper, we get a segment where we find out Peter has actually tried it, and a barely-beeped f-bomb. TV-14 or not, this is more graphic than anything Adam Lambert tried much later at night.
And lest you think I’m devoid of a sense of humor, the show that likely has the right-wing upset the most was American Dad last night, which in light of Hanukkah and Christmas, chose to go with a Rapture episode. Naturally Stan gets left behind. My favorite bit is Rapture Watch, as the news, and life seem to go on with those left behind.
Granted, this show wasn’t all that respectful of religious beliefs, but I’ll worry about that when their beliefs stop stomping all over my life.
I know that Seth MacFarlane is very pro-gay in real life, but every time he makes a positive statement about us to the choir on Real Time with Bill Maher is completely destroyed when he chooses to equate homosexuality and pedophilia.
Frankly, with friends like him, who needs Bill Donohue of the Catholic League?
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Comments
Herbert
I agree that the Seth MacFarlane oeuvre pushes envelopes (and buttons) and is at turns brilliant satire and offensive trash (not unlike South Park). And I agree that there are still plenty of ignorant people out there who equate homosexuality and pedophilia. But if that's what MacFarlane was really setting out to do, then ALL gays on these shows would be seen stalking children.
Just as I disagree with the contingent of people who believe that merely discussing an idea is the same as advocating it, I disagree that by showing one gay pedophile, it's saying that all gays are pedophiles. Let's face it: some gays are pedophiles. Just like some straights are pedophiles (statistically, MORE straights are pedophiles). To suggest that this should never be portrayed in the media is to promote a different kind of lie. I really think intent needs to be factored in and it's clear the intent isn't anti-gay.
I would have a much bigger problem with this if EVERY gay character on these shows were making passes at under age boys. And while MacFarlane's shows employ a wide variety of stereotypes (effeminate, lispy, flamboyant, etc.), the perceived effect (in my eyes, I admit) is more to skewer and poke fun at these rather than perpetuate the myth.
I agree
that last night's animation block was rather hit or miss. Some of the jokes were hysterical.. the beard on Cleveland and on American Dad "apparently gays can go to heaven but only if they are tops" both had me in stitches. The pedophile and some of the other jokes not so much.
O Liberté, que de crimes on commet en ton nom!
Family Guy
Herbert is over-used
Seth MacFarlane is full of crap
In his so-called mind, he believes if he says the right words on TV to the right hosts then it gives him cover to broadcast this kind of homophobic bigotry.
I don't believe for one second he's really in favor of gay rights. He's as homophobic as Jimmy Kimmel.
Well
You're making a mountain out of a molehill. And if you want to persecute Family Guy for discriminating against minority groups then you're going to have a lot of work ahead of you because that is basically all Family Guy does. You never complain when Family Guy makes racist jokes or sexist jokes do you? Only the gay ones.
By the way I think Herbert is hilarious, and Family Guy is not meant to be taken seriously.
I have to agree
The thing I love about Family Guy and the rest is how ridiculously inappropriate they are. It's the same reason I love South Park and why I used to l-o-v-e Drawn Together.
My two cents!
See, but i
find that South Park is not really the same as Family Guy, because Family Guy doesn't have South Park's heart. Shows like Family Guy and Sarah Silverman are hard for me to watch because they never let up, they never dilute the nastiness. Every once in awhile i need a breather during shows like that... and i think South Park's humor is a bit smarter, too.
True
Another huge difference is that South Park is satire-- each episode makes fun of something and is actually trying to get across a message. It's not just shocking to try to be shocking.
"Go, or go ahead and surprise me." -- Rufus Wainwright
It's a cartoon.
GLAAD and I can't seem to see eye to eye lately.
That's being a bit short-sighted
It is a cartoon, but I wouldn't say it's *just* a cartoon. Obviously it's not going to turn otherwise LGBTQ-friendly viewers into raging homophobes, but the problem is that each of these jokes, each of these shows, add up to a cascade of anti-gay sentiment. These shows are watched by an audience that regularly uses the word "gay" as their insult of choice, and anti-gay humor endorses this worldview. Seth MacFarlane is certainly not the most dangerous enemy we have, but the perspective he promotes is still dangerous.
"Go, or go ahead and surprise me." -- Rufus Wainwright
A nice reminder...
I actually took that meaning...
Actually, I took that that meaning at first concerning the Thanksgiving episode, and I was destroyed when I brought it up. I initially saw Tyler Perry/Madea thing going on, but then when you go back to the vomiting, the sex, etc., it was really awful.
And I don't hate the Sunday nights on Fox, contrary to how it sounds here. I tend to enjoy them. But the direct link to pedophilia was a step too far, because some things are actually, never, ever funny.
Oh I don't disagree
No, I totally agree that interpreting the episode as anti-gay and anti-trans is reasonable (although I could make an argument that a character who is completely comfortable and fluid in hir sexuality and gender identity is a good thing). I just don't think McFarland sat down and planned an anti-trans episode. And to be fair that whole wristwatch thing would be nasty no matter the gender of the people involved.
Curious...
Can we get rid of that Herbert fellow? That is one joke overdone to death!
I think it's already established that Seth MacFarlane is not a homophobe at all (though I'm sure the fratboys in his audience are unaware of that.)
What I want to know is if he had ever been asked if he was a misogynist or not? Because, I honestly think he is, what, with the way he jokes so easily about rape and domestic violence, maybe this is me being that so-called humorless feminist, but it really disturbs me.
I agree
I stopped watching when the Sunday night lineup included, by my calculation, no less than two rape jokes a night.
Yes. Rape jokes.
Used to love Family Guy but I have better ways to spend my time, thank you.
Guh.
I've hated these shows for years. They're so desperate to be un-PC and edgy, but it's just non-sequitur after rape joke after gay joke after non-sequitur. It's not unfunny because it's misogynist and homophobic, it's unfunny in addition to being misogynist and homophobic.
And no, the audience is not laughing at how "edgy" it is. The frat boys watching these shows are laughing at that gay character, and at the stripper being abused.
"Go, or go ahead and surprise me." -- Rufus Wainwright
What's Even Worse is............
I think the worst thing I saw was on Family Guy when the father showed up as the stripped at his daughter's bachlorette party!!! I kid you not. He called himself "Officer Nasty" and then stripped down to a G string and shoved his fat disgusting ass right into his own daughter's face!!!!!!!!!!
How the hell did that get past the censors? You can find it on Youtube...type in Family Guy and Officer Nasty. I hate to admit though....I did find it pretty fucking funny! Sometimes you gotta have a sense of humor. I think Southpark is hilarious when they parody Gays because they parody every single other group out there that you can imagine. They're equal opportunity offenders.