Seth MacFarlane did not mean to interject "Family Guy" to the Kevin Spaceysexual harassment scandal, but the show has been lauded since then because of its predictions when it comes to disgraced Hollywood stars. Nonetheless, the executive producer stated he thinks the show's role in anticipating such scandals was overblown.
"I feel the fantasy that 'Family Guy' is this Kreskin-like prognosticator of this kind of stuff is somewhat sensationalized," MacFarlane said during Fox's part of the Television Critics Association press tour. "I recall, when the scene was pitched, that rumor was only a rumor that I have not heard yet. And it needed to be explained to me that there is this rumor that's around.'"
"Family Guy" quipped about Spacey in a 2005 episode where infant Stewie is seen running through a crowded department store nude, yelling, 'Help! I've escaped from Kevin Spacey's basement! Help me!'" Following allegations surfaced of Spacey's sexual misconduct, following a Buzzfeed article where "Star Trek: Discovery" actor Anthony Rapp cited him of making sexual advances toward him.
Executive producer Alec Sulkin said he had been in the room when that joke was thrown, but he didn't recall the roots of it. "I think that that was something where he was coming from a story where I believe he had kind of been kind of beaten up at a London park, and he claimed he was walking his dog at night and fell," Sulkin said. . And I believe that raised a lot of eyebrows and you know, it is one of these things, regarding standards, where if they have heard the rumors because we've got, then they'll let it."
Managing producer Rich Appel said "Family Guy" will likewise be allowed by Fox's criteria and practices to make scandalous jokes about actors if "there is some rumor on the market that's been printed if it appears so outrageous that nobody could believe this would be."
However, he added, a few of those crazy jokes have come to pass as well, although in the time of airing, the show's producers thought, "Well, this is never going to occur."
MacFarlane said he is amused by the amount of coverage he receives every time a different one of the predictions comes true. (He made a joke about Harvey Weinstein while hosting the Oscars in 2013 which has been mentioned as the truth behind that manufacturer's sexual attack)
"I mean, it is fascinating to see," he said. "this all occurred I just saw all this happen from afar. I think that it's the contemporary media where it is like it's more important to be first than to be right. Plus it gets out there and somebody else picks it up and then someone else picks it up, then it just becomes viral in exactly the exact same manner something does on social networking. So it's a strange thing to see. We write our show precisely the same manner as everybody else. I mean, we make the identical type of topical jokes which shows like 'The Simpsons' and 'South Park' does. And you utilize what you've got, whether that's swirling rumor or political fact or whatnot."