‘Family Guy’ Boston Bombing Video: Seth MacFarlane Responds to Tasteless Internet Hoax
Barely one full day after the tragic events of the Boston Marathon bombings, and already a tasteless parody video has begun to make the rounds, splicing together several different clips from FOX's long-running animation titan 'Family Guy' to make it appear as if a March 17 episode predicted yesterday's attacks. While the video makes the rounds, series creator and animation magnate Seth MacFarlane has issued his own statement denouncing the hoax.
'Family Guy' has certainly courted its fair share of controversy before, but a new video making the rounds implying that the series predicted the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing has been revealed as pure hoax. The clip in question splices together two unrelated clips of March 17 episode "Turban Cowboy," implying that Peter Griffin won the Boston Marathon by detonating two bombs from a cell phone.
MacFarlane himself made sure to clarify matters over his Twitter account, saying "The edited Family Guy clip currently circulating is abhorrent. The event was a crime and a tragedy, and my thoughts are with the victims." Even without the clarification, viewers of the series might have predicted the hoax given that the two clips in question feature Peter Griffin wearing completely different outfits, with no attention called to the change.
Several 'Family Guy' cast and crew, Seth Green among them have already re-tweeted MacFarlane's message. As of Wednesday April 17, the clip has been pulled from YouTube, and both FOX and Hulu have removed "Turban Cowboy" from rotation, with no announced intent to return the episode.