Top 10 Times American Dad Went Too Far

Roger is an alien. Klaus is a German man stuck in the body of a fish. It may have taken over a decade, but didn’t everyone expect these two to hook up? Okay, maybe this is the weirdest coupling we have ever seen on-screen. Although Roger has humped everything under the sun, he gets desperate for love, and resorts to online dating. An honest mistake leads him to Klaus, and the ensuing sex scenes… well, we wish that we had brought a barf bucket with us. You’d never think that a cartoon can make you gag like that.

We all know Stan is a strong and brave patriarch. However, he is also deeply sexist, shallow, and carries around some very old world views. When it becomes clear that he loves Francine for her looks and expects her to consistently take care of herself for him, she finally decides to relax and let herself go. The ensuing results are pretty horrific, but since Stan can’t take a clue and show his wife he loves her for who she is, he does that only logical thing he can think of. He removes his retinas to save the marriage.

While the abuse Hayley goes through is nothing compared to Meg Griffin, there have been some questionable parental moments. Case in point: when Hayley gets wrongfully accused of destroying a mural, and is hunted down by the entire town, her loving father saves the day, Stan-style. He knocks her out and performs reconstruction surgery on her face. The surgery itself is stomach-churning, as well as hilarious, but the disaster doesn’t end there. Hayley comes out looking like Frankenstein’s monster from a surgery she never asked for. A bad case of ‘Father doesn’t know best’.

Over the years, we have seen the multiple ugly sides to Stan Smith, and wondered how he turned out this way. The infamous episode, “Oedipal Panties,” decides to answer some of these questions, as it deep dives into Stan’s relationship with his mother. Disturbing to say the least, we learn that Stan has made it a habit of kidnapping his mother’s boyfriends and making them disappear. Wanting mommy all to himself, this is an unhealthy relationship for the ages. The cherry on top? That nightmarish bath-time song that Francine, nor the audience, will ever forget.

Ultra-conservative Stan Smith does not hide his strong beliefs and Christian values. It was only a matter of time before his homophobic side came out to play, what with loving couple Terry and Greg living down the street. Stan has been pretty civil to them, in his own way, until they decide to have a baby. Along with the incredibly offensive stereotypical one-liners, Stan goes on a homophobic crusade, kidnapping their newborn and trying to save it from an unnatural life with two fathers. Do we really wanna forgive Stan at the end of this one?

Poor Steve, so innocent and virginal. This episode was the definition of nervous laughter as we watched Randy the molester move into the neighborhood. He of course does his civic duty to politely inform everyone he’s a sex-offender, but Stan is completely oblivious when Steve and his friends are swept away by the pedophile right under his nose. Seeing the boys in unitards, lured into the “Wet, Young & Wild” waterpark, sprayed with butter and made to jump on a dirty mattress is thankfully as far as this episode decides to go.

In its early days, “American Dad” went straight for the jugular and knew exactly what would offend audiences. A two-part special called “Stan of Arabia,” well… we all knew where this was going. After being relocated to Saudi Arabia, the Smiths quickly realize the rules are a little different here. Highlights include jokes about the Iraq War, Roger being sold into sex slavery, and Stan getting a second wife. But the most offensive of all is Francine’s song about how terrible Saudi Arabia is for women.

The episode “Pulling Double Booty” is all levels of messed up and confusing. First Francine is horrified to find Stan making out with their daughter, Hayley. When we find out this was just Stan’s body double, Bill, he then pretends to be Stan in order to sleep with Francine. Still following? As if the image of Stan with his daughter wasn’t cringe-worthy enough, Stan pretends to be Bill, and continues to date Hayley, to not break her heart. Father of the year, or disgusting nightmarish situation?

No minority is left behind by Stan’s insensitivity and cluelessness. Wanting his son to have a great summer camp experience, Stan accidentally sends Steve to a refugee camp in Africa. It’s truly hard to believe that Stan, a CIA operative, can be this obtuse. Like when he goes to rescue Steve, and ends up trying to turn the refugee camp into a real summer camp. Making fun of refugees is bad enough, but calling a violent attack by local rebels a panty raid really makes the humor hard to fathom.





Before we reveal our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.


The Entirety of “American Fung”
“American Fung”



Eating Becky
“The Vacation Goo”





Steve Kisses Hayley
“Stannie Get Your Gun”

If you were surprised by the lack of Roger, the most offensive character on the show, on this list so far, do not fret. His antics led him to the top spot. Playing pranks and manipulating people is what Roger does best, and convincing Stan that their new horse needs regular… manual stimulation, takes the cake. That brief garden-hose moment, when we were all tricked into thinking the show had definitely gone way too far, resulted in over 100,000 complaints and a $25,000 fine from the FCC.