Former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has a beef with Family Guy. According to the Associated Press article I read, this past weeks episode featured a character with Down Syndrome, who while on a date with Chris makes a statement that her Dad is an accountant and her mom is the former Governor of Alaska. Palin refers to the reference as "another kick in the gut" and later asks "when is enough enough?"
To get this out of the way, I do understand Palin's position. As someone who worked with children with disabilities, it is very hard for me to see jokes at their expense, especially on T.V. However, after watching the episode, it really didn't seem like an attack on her son Trig, and wasn't necessarily a negative portrayal of people with Down Syndrome. The character seemed high functioning, and wasn't all that different from any high-maintenance, high school age girl. In fact, they've done a lot worse with other groups before. Does that make it right? Maybe not, but if they were to apologize for this, then they need to apologize to the following groups that were also made fun of in the episode:
The British
American Public(for thinking Thornton Melon was a real person)
Harry Truman
Medium
Scandinavians
Even though I don't think it's something that should be blown out of proportion, I have the feeling it will be. Fortunately for Family Guy fans, the show still produces viewers, so I don't see it going away any time soon.
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