‘Family Guy’ Producers to Phase Out Gay Jokes: ‘The Climate Is Different’

Family Guy producers Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin said in an interview that the show would phase out gay jokes because “the climate is different” in 2019.

Appel and Sulkin spoke to TVLine about the most recent Family Guy episode, which targeted President Trump. In the interview, they talked about the need to change the humor used in the show.

TVLine reports:

TVLINE | Peter also told Trump that Family Guy has been “trying to phase out” gay jokes. Are you really?

SULKIN | Kind of, yes. If you look at a show from 2005 or 2006 and put it side by side with a show from 2018 or 2019, they’re going to have a few differences. Some of the things we felt comfortable saying and joking about back then, we now understand is not acceptable.

APPEL | It’s almost unique to Family Guy, though I can think of one other show that’s been on the air longer. But if a show has literally been on the air for 20 years, the culture changes. And it’s not us reacting and thinking, “They won’t let us [say certain things].” No, we’ve changed too. The climate is different, the culture is different and our views are different. They’ve been shaped by the reality around us, so I think the show has to shift and evolve in a lot of different ways.

The two producers also defended their decision to go after Trump in the latest episode.

“Look, Trump is funny. He’s funny to look at and to watch — if it wasn’t so scary. And you just try to milk the funny angle,” Alec Sulkin said.

Indeed, the Trump-themed episode spared no one in the president’s orbit. During the show, Trump can be seen sexually assaulting Meg Griffin, and a preview showed Trump telling his daughter Ivanka that she has a “beautiful rack.”

While some liberal viewers found the humor in that, many conservatives were not entertained.

One social media user said, “FamilyGuy is exposing the Trump Derangement Syndrome in Hollywood, they hate him so much that they’ll write an entire episode of garbage just to try to mock him nationally. Couple of good jokes thrown into an otherwise dumpster fire episode. Trump sucks blah blah get over it.”

Another viewer chimed in, “Well, tonight’s FamilyGuy episode was a prime example of how obsessed Hollywood has become about DonaldTrump & how deep its head is into Liberal politics.”

The creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane is a politically active liberal. In 2018, he donated $2 million to a pro-Democrat Super PAC.