Family Guy VS Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin is pissed off. Bleh.

Mrs. Fox Contributor was offended by the Family Guy episode that depicts Chris dating a girl with Down Syndrome. The writers took the opportunity to poke fun at Palin (the character's mom was "the former governor of Alaska").

As the aunt of someone with DS and an avid viewer of Family Guy, I figured I would offer my two cents. Family Guy gets most of its laughs from being socially inappropriate and politically incorrect. It is easy to get offended when they poke fun at something that has personal meaning to the watcher and I can imagine that the twinge of discomfort would grow if you were personally at the butt of a particular joke. In the end though, get over it. You can change the channel. You can choose not to watch it and not give it any attention. I'll admit that the show has made me squirm at times but I understand that discomfort is basically the premise and plot of the entire series. If they ever went too far over the line I would stop watching, pure and simple. The show is a smash hit so it obviously strikes a chord with a very large audience.

In this particular case I find it deliciously ironic that Palin now works for Fox, the network that carries not only Family Guy but The Simpsons. Fox has never been a network to shy away from controversy. In the end they are all about ratings whether it is on their "news" station or otherwise.

Another reason not to like Palin, surprise surprise.

UPDATE:

The actress who played Ellen was Andrea Fay Friedman, a television actress who has Down Syndrome herself. She wrote an e-mail to the New York Times responding to Palin's critcism which the Times followed up with an interview.

I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line “I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska” was very funny. I think the word is “sarcasm.” In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life.

I watched on Channel 4, on “Extra,” and I saw Sarah Palin with her son Trig. I’m like, “I’m not Trig. This is my life.” I was making fun of Sarah Palin, but not her son.

Go Andrea! She hit it right on the nose!