‘Family Guy’ addresses its stance on phasing out “gay jokes”

The show's latest episode made reference to its apparent commitment to move away from the subject matter

The latest episode of Family Guy has seen the show address its previous commitment to “phasing out” jokes about the LGBTQ community.

Earlier this year, executive producers Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin expanded on a Peter Griffin line in the episode ‘Trump Guy’ — where the character said “we’ve been trying to phase out the gay stuff” — which was seemingly spoken on behalf of the show.

“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,” Sulkin told TVLine about that line. “Some of the things we felt comfortable saying and joking about back then, we now understand is not acceptable.”

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The latest episode of the animated sitcom, ‘Disney’s The Reboot’, aired in the US on Sunday (October 20) and appeared to reference both ‘Trump Guy’ and the subsequent interview.

In a scene where a focus group jokes about the depiction of Peter’s sexuality on the show, one group member tells the character: “I thought I read you guys were phasing out gay jokes.” Peter replies: “That quote was taken out of context and widely misunderstood.”

Adding to Sulkin’s comments in the same January interview, Appel said that the showrunners recognised that “the culture [has] changed” in the 20 years that Family Guy has been on the air.

“And it’s not us reacting and thinking, ‘They won’t let us [say certain things].’ No, we’ve changed too,” he said.

“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.”

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Late last year, Family Guy paid tribute to the late Carrie Fisher by bidding a “respectful goodbye” to her character on the show, Angela.

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