TV's "Family Guy" to Stop Gay Jokes – ? ! ?
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Last week, Seth MacFarlane and Fox network reps announced that TV's Family Guy would be eliminating jokes centered on the gay community, or if you will, the gay experience.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-46878017
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a25902540/family-guy-gay-jokes/
https://www.eonline.com/news/1005285/why-family-guy-is-phasing-out-gay-jokes
I guess I'll begin with my take. So, the show will still do jokes on the disabled (Joe), sexual compulsives (Quagmire), "homely" and unpopular girls (Meg), but gays have been singled out for a free pass, because, as the producers claimed in one article, "the times and culture have changed."
Well, haven't the times also changed for some of the other groups I mentioned? More to the point, how do you take the funny gay bits out of Stewie's character? Will the mildly unsettling old pedophile Herbert be phased out? And Bruce, the middle-aged, lisping and endlessly upbeat gay?
For me, the humor in Family Guy is meant to be both transgressive and appropriately inappropriate, so I feel this change will make it a weaker show.
Your thoughts?
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It's a step backward, but it makes sense with all the identity politics going on.
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It seems weird that they announced it. If they were trying to prevent anyone from singling them out down the line you'd think they could have just stopped making gay jokes as to not draw attention to it. I haven't enjoyed the show since middle school, but it seems odd to cut out gay jokes. Part of the problem they may face is that the gay jokes are rather… out dated. I can't remember a time I watched the show and saw a gay joke and thought 'yeah, that actually happens.' The stereotype seems so 80s or 90s or whatever. The only thing that got me laughing in the episode where peter turned gay was when he was reading flowers in the attic, purely because I enjoyed the novel a lot my self.
Don't get me started on Joe though. The intent of the character was to highlight that disabled people aren't lesser and are often going to be better than you at anything or everything, but they now treat him like he is sub-human. Really makes you wonder.
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I think they published it either to virtue signal or to appease the liberal mobs.
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I think they published it either to virtue signal or to appease the liberal mobs.
Well, raphjd, I am surely your most beloved liberal/progressive, and even as such, I find the announced Family Guy changes to be ill-conceived cucking in the name of political correctness. The show will be weaker for losing the bawdy jokes aimed at the gay characters, particularly as there was often a basis of truth in each jab. And that in itself was funny. We're strong enough to laugh at ourselves here, imho.
Oddly enough, if I had to censor any of the jokes, it would be some of the ones about wheelchair-bound Joe. When they allude to his limp dick, or having to scoop out his poop (I guess those muscles don't work, too), I think about the (yes, small) numbers of real viewers in that situation.
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Do you remember "cousin Geri" from Facts of Life? She was Blair's disabled cousin.
She was played by Geri Jewell who has cerebral palsy and she was (maybe still is) a standup comic. She didn't hold back on making fun of her situation in her routines.
Like me, she said that equality means that we should be able to be the butt of jokes. The only caveat is that the jokes have the same limits as for any other group.
And YES, you are most favorite liberal. :hug2:
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OMG, Cousin Geri… checked her Wiki page, still among us, and working in recent years. Married to a guy, divorced, and now lesbian -- well, why not?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geri_Jewell
Her 2011 biography is entitled I'm Walking as Straight as I Can, so, pretty sure she would have no issues with Family Guy gay (or disability) jokes. She would also appreciate the irony of your calling her a "standup" comedian. :cheesy2:
And back to Family Guy the list of characters who are LGBT (main characters, recurring or guest) is a long one, and how they will be funny without referencing their sexuality, I dunno.
https://familyguyfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Category:LGBT_Characters
This post dedicated to Peter's hardcore sister, Karen Griffin…
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Family Guy hasn't been funny for at least the past seven years so all of this is irrelevant.
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Family Guy hasn't been funny for at least the past seven years so all of this is irrelevant.
It's irrelevant to you, fine. As well, Copernicus clearly was mistaken when he said the planets circle the Sun, for surely they must revolve around you, and only you.
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Yes, that's correct.
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I understand that you no longer find the show funny, but we're also trying to focus on the root cause and potential impact of the show's new "don't offend the gays" policy.
Family Guy has a large U.S. audience and international syndication, so when LGBT representation is subject to change, we feel it's something worth talking about.
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When I think of the average current Family Guy fan, I think of a person with brain fluid leaking from their nose as they stuff raw potatoes into their mouth. Do we really need to be worrying about that kind of audience?
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Do we really need to be worrying about that kind of audience?
I'll start with not worrying about your officious posts.
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I thought that the Stewie being gay shtick was funny. Fuck me, eh?
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I guess the whole PC climate is all over the place, I don't think censorship is a good way to get anywhere.
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I think there's a fine line between jokes based on one's identity vs jokes based on one's behavior. A.k.a laughing because you're acting silly vs laughing because you're gay.
If the creators are smart, they will shift the joke based on actions, not identity.
And I think this is good. This makes creators evolve beyond lazy stereotypes.
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Should we get rid of straight jokes as well?
Everyone should be able to take a joke. -
I’m not sure how to tell you this, but here we go: I watch a lot of Family Guy. I don’t remember making a conscious decision to start watching a lot of Family Guy. Basically, I met an American man who had come of age, like me, in the 2000s, when watching shows like Family Guy (i.e. cartoons for adults with a knack for political and/or crass jokes) was a harmless, kind of edgy thing to do. https://s3.amazonaws.com/just-build-lol/index.html. Then, said American man and I got married, and, like most millennial couples, we’re incapable of consuming a meal together without simultaneously watching a TV show.
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I've never liked this TV series: they are full of stereotypes and denigrating jokes all the time. It should be cancelled for all these offensive jokes to different social groups (gays, disabled people, etc.).
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Eh its comedy.
I mean sure it could be more clever comedy, but I really do not feel offended when I hear jokes about being gay or being greek (ex. the SNL skit about the greek gods dealing with the crisis of the greek economy a few years ago is hilarious despite the fact it relies on the stereotype that all greeks are just lazy).
I could draw the line of jokes not being funny depending on the persona of the character that tells them, the timeframe etc, but still I never felt like silencing a comedian or part of their act… not even Dane Cook roflmao!
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