Russia Tried to Ban Family Guy Over Offensive Episode

“Family Guy” has fought against political correctness and offensive jokes as much as Peter with an oversized chicken, even irritating Oscar-winning actors. However, there was one episode in particular that put the show in tougher trouble than usual when Russia took offense in the two-part season 21 finale, starting with episode 19, “From Russia with Love,” and then continuing with “Adult Education.” “. The episode’s story saw Meg (Mila Kunis, who replaced the character’s original voice actress, Lacey Chabert, in season 2) cross the waters to Chelyabinsk, Russia, and marry a hacker named Ivan. Carrying the things to the limit, the second part of the two-part show included one of the show’s signature tongue-in-cheek songs, “This Old Town,” in which Meg danced around her new home in a way that mirrored Belle in the Disney film . “Beauty and the Beast.”

Government officials did not like Chelyabinsk being mocked in this way, news week revealing in 2023 that an effort was made to ban “Family Guy.” Speaking about the episode on Russia’s Rise, Chelyabinsk regional MP Yana Lantratova stated: “The artist has the right to his vision, but this is a deliberately offensive artistic image that has nothing to do with reality.” Specifically, Lantratova took issue with the depiction of Chelyabinsk in the musical sequence, stating: “This is a deliberate work against our country. Information warfare through artistic works. They deliberately create an image of Russia as a country where everyone is dissatisfied with the life, drinking, using drugs, accepting bribes.”

While it’s easy to understand why Russia was upset about “Family Guy” and the way it portrayed Chelyabinsk, it wouldn’t be the first country that Peter Griffin (Seth McFarlane) and the rest of the Quahog locals found themselves in. They make fun of him. According to the show (which has been on for over 22 seasons now), it’s totally normal for a man to marry a boat in Australia. Meanwhile, in England apparently no one has clean teeth and everyone talks absolute nonsense. That said, “Family Guy” attacked Russia long before Meg’s ditty and even dared to make a joke about the country’s current leader, Vladimir Putin.

So far, Russia’s leader has appeared in four episodes of “Family Guy,” including one in which Putin behaves like “Raiders of the Lost Ark” villain Major Arnold Toht. Ultimately, the show’s creator, Seth McFarlane, while recently admitting that there is one joke he regrets, feels that fans of the series are smart enough to know that it’s all in the name of good fun. “The public can smell the difference between virtue signaling on social media and actual offense,” he told the Los Angeles Times in April 2024. “If this was a real offense, you didn’t get away with it.”