Irreverent animated comedy Family Guy has issued edgy Emmy mailers making reference to the Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey scandals that rocked Hollywood in past months, Deadline reports.
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Family Guy frontman Peter Griffin covers the envelope, with text reading, “We predicted Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein. Open DVD to see who’s next.” When voters open the mailer, they’re greeted by a mirror.
The gag comes after 2005 episode of Family Guy “predicted” the Kevin Spacey allegations of sexual abuse, which saw a naked Stewie run through a crowded mall as part of a bet with family dog Brian, screaming, “Help! I’ve escaped from Kevin Spacey’s basement!”
Spacey was accused last year of having made sexual advances on actor Anthony Rapp in 1986 when he was 14-years-old.
Family Guy mastermind Seth MacFarlane, who also voices Peter, Stewie, and Brian, called out disgraced movie producer and mogul Weinstein in 2013 while announcing Academy Award nominations.
“Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein,” MacFarlane joked. In 2017, Weinstein was famously accused by multiple women of sexual abuse and misconduct. Weinstein was indicted by a New York City grand jury late last month.
Past Family Guy Emmy mailers channeled former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Kellyanne Conway, with one poster reading, “Vote for us, or it’s time for some traffic problems in Brentwood,” with the other reading, “Alternative fact: we are the smartest comedy on television.”
In 2016, another Family Guy mailer parodied Donald Trump, with a tanned Peter Griffin filling in as the president. “As long as we’re voting for dumb loudmouths,” the mailer read, “can I get an Emmy?”
Yet another, with Stewie appealing to voters to nominate the long-running ‘toon for Outstanding Comedy Series, read, “It’s a secret ballot. You can still tell people you voted for Modern Family.”
“I think when we first started doing it, Seth was a little more hands-on and involved in the process. So, when it started, it had to have his stamp of approval, so it had to be pretty edgy and funny, and I think we knew that it was a really good opportunity to send out a single joke with a visual image, and that’s kind of what we do all day long anyway,” co-showrunner Alec Sulkin told Deadline.
“So it just was a logical extension of what we already do, and it was very fun to see that people enjoyed and responded to it.”
“And in the years I’ve been a part of it, there’s a self-awareness that, if you were raised at all right, there’s something a little unseemly about begging for votes and advertising yourself and saying somehow you’re better than others,” added co-showrunner Rich Appel.
“So this is a way I think to make it not just about saying, oh, you know, give us something, as opposed to an opportunity…”
“Alec is too modest to say this, but this year’s was Alec’s idea, which I will claim credit for mutually liking. I supported it, but Alec can speak to it,” Appel added.
“It’s funny that you said that because I don’t even remember if it was my idea or not, and I don’t want to take credit for it if it wasn’t. I remember we were definitely in the room — as they say in Hamilton, in the room where it happened — and we were all pitching on some funny ideas, and obviously, the Harvey Weinstein story/#MeToo movement, which is much larger than just Harvey, if that’s possible, was on our minds and was on everyone’s mind,” Sulkin explained.
“It was a Hollywood story, but it was also a national and international story. So we felt like we could step into that fray with something that was appropriately funny, but also kind of reminding everyone, you’re not off the hook.”
Family Guy has been renewed for a 17th season to debut on FOX.
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