Politics and art: strange bedfellows? Far from it! Why, they go together like peanut butter and pickles. If you don’t like to think about politics while you’re watching cartoons (adult animated sitcoms, that is), then I guess you’re in a pickle, being eaten alive by Seth MacFarlane. The Family Guy creator has spoken out — as is the prerogative of celebrities and anyone under the First Amendment — against Fox.

Which Fox, you ask? Is it the talking fox in The Green Knight or Antichrist? No, silly rabbit. It’s Fox Corporation, which owns both the Fox News Channel and the Fox Broadcasting Company, the latter being the TV network that airs Family Guy. Surely, no one on the Internet will have any opinions about what MacFarlane had to say.

MacFarlane vs. Fox: The Beef Continues

How did this happen?! Where is this soapbox that allowed a famous person to share their political opinion? And isn’t Fox owned by Disney now? What does this mean for Disney’s cultural hegemony and our own happiness as consumers?

Well, as one hawk-eyed reader pointed out after this post about Tubi’s recent streaming deal, Disney owns 20th Century Studios, once known as 20th Century Fox. Fox News, on the other hand, is still owned by the aforementioned mass media company, Fox Corp.

As for MacFarlane, he took to a place called the Twitters, which I’m told is the last bastion of sunshine in a dark world, to share his newest thoughts on being associated with the Fox name. If you’ve kept abreast of his filmography over the years and the latest in bear movie news, you might even say he gave a mini TED Talk on the subject.

For the benefit of those who can’t see the embed below, here’s the transcription of what MacFarlane had to say:

“Tucker Carlson’s latest opinion piece once again makes me wish Family Guy was on any other network. Look, Fox, we both know this marriage isn’t working anymore. The sex is only once a year, I don’t get along with your mother, and well… I’ve been having an affair with NBC.”

Tucker Carlson’s latest opinion piece once again makes me wish Family Guy was on any other network. Look, Fox, we both know this marriage isn’t working anymore. The sex is only once a year, I don’t get along with your mother, and well… I’ve been having an affair with NBC.

— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) August 1, 2021

Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner

As Comic Book notes, this isn’t the first time that MacFarlane has taken to social media to slam Fox and/or Carlson. In 2020, he tweeted at Laura Ingraham, another one of the talking heads on Fox News: “I really cannot fathom that we produce content for the same corporation.” In 2018, he also tweeted the following in response to a clip from Carlson’s show:

“In other words, don’t think critically, don’t consult multiple news sources, and in general, don’t use your brain. Just blindly obey Fox News. This is fringe s**t, and it’s business like this that makes me embarrassed to work for this company.”

Folks, I don’t write the entertainment news, I just report it in a glibly entertaining manner. So don’t shoot the messenger here (even if he is having as much fun riffing on this as a late-night talk show host, or a cave troll on the loose in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.)

If MacFarlane’s comments rub you the wrong way, I encourage you to send your hate mail to the same dead letter office where a contingent of hypothetical Zack Snyder fans may have been sending their mail for the last two weeks. When you tweet, go ahead and include that same hashtag, #MegabucksMarvelPayolaDCMeathead, but feel free to remix with other trend-worthy phrases that are relevant to Family Guy.

Might I recommend, #ItInsistsOnItself? Or perhaps, #ItRubsTheLotionOnItsSkinOrElseItGetsTheTweetsAgain?

Just have fun with it! That’s the most important thing.

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