, of course, offends a lot of people on a pretty regular basis. it’s something of their stock-in-trade, and generally preople take it as read that their sexist, racist and homophobic jokes are tongue-in-cheek, knowing that the show’s creator, Seth MacFarlane, doesn’t really believe anything of the sort.This week, though, The Hollywood Reporter is carrying a story that indicates a recent mailer they sent to Emmy voters urging them for support may have offended some of the TV industry insiders it was targeting.The flier–which on the outside features Peter Griffin saying, “Come on, you bloated, overprivileged Brentwood Jews. Let us into your little club,” and then on the inside (along with a DVD featuring episodes for consideration) has Stewie Griffin telling voters, “It’s a secret ballot. You can still tell people you voted for Modern Family.”–has apparently got producers divided, according to the THR report.One producer tells the magazine, “While I think Family Guy is a genuinely funny show, we all — including this ‘Brentwood Jew’ — need to think twice about this kind of humor. Stereotyping any particular ethnic group is just not cool and can lead others (with the wrong intentions) to feel a certain license to take shots. Surely Seth [MacFarlane] has better stuff than this.”Meanwhile, another disagrees on both counts; this one actually enjoyed the campaign, but still won’t be voting for Family Guy. “Wow,” they quote the producer as saying, “if Family Guy was that funny on a regular basis, it might get nominated.”The ad was reportedly rejected by not only The Hollywood Reporter, but also Variety and other entertainment-industry periodicals before FOX elected to send it directly to voters.
