Top 20 Family Guy Jokes that Crossed the Line

“Baby Not on Board”
Aquaman, perhaps prior to some more recent casting choices, didn’t have the best reputation. He’s a fish guy, powerful in the ocean, but what about on land? “Family Guy” decided to poke fun at Arthur Curry, yet could perhaps have gone about it a little differently. A woman is shown being assaulted on a beach, crying for help. Aquaman pokes his head out of the ocean at a distance, yet stays where he is, confined to the ocean. He tosses a harmless starfish and threatens the criminal with fish backup. When the woman asks why he won’t help, he gives a pretty insensitive response. We get the Aquaman criticism, but can’t help but think this joke would’ve worked showing any other crime.

“8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter”
Longtime fans of “Family Guy” will be far too familiar with this scene. It never gets less disgusting, even so many seasons later. In a Season 4 episode, Peter gets a hold of some ipecac, a syrup made from plant extracts traditionally used to rapidly induce vomiting. Well the Griffin boys have a contest to see who can go the longest without vomiting. What follows is a full one-minute scene of continuous puking. The four end up writhing in agony on the floor, vomit lining every piece of furniture and most of the floor. If that wasn’t enough, a Season 11 episode where time is reversed shows it again, but Brian and Stewie have to endure it backwards.

“The Juice Is Loose”
Did you know the Griffins had four children? There’s Meg, Chris, Stewie and the dearly departed Peter Jr. In a Season 7 episode, a cutaway reveals a funeral scene, in which Peter consoles a crying Lois over the grave of Peter Jr. In a gentle voice, Peter says he thought the infant would stop crying if he shook him hard enough. It goes without saying that shaken baby syndrome is one of the leading causes of infant death. So the joke is quite provocative. Those vaguely familiar with this condition may guiltily giggle, and those all too familiar will likely not.

“Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q”
In a Season 10 episode, we’re reintroduced to Quagmire’s sister Brenda and her aggressive boyfriend Jeff. She refuses to leave him, despite his clear physical and mental abuses towards her. Quagmire and friends end up secretly putting an end to Jeff and faking a farewell letter to Brenda. This episode generated a lot of controversy, as it was unlike the show to take on such a heavy topic. In all fairness, they handled it with care, but it was perhaps too serious for a show like “Family Guy.” It takes away from the severity of the situation. Also, the episode’s title, “Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q,” mocks those of melodramatic TV movies, which also arguably lightens the mood unnecessarily.

“I Dream of Jesus”
There are a lot of jabs at Christianity in “Family Guy.” Jesus himself is a recurring character, yet prior to this Season 7 appearance, he was pretty much only in cutaways. In the episode “I Dream of Jesus,” Peter runs into Jesus who claims he’s secretly hanging out on Earth. Peter persuades him to reveal his presence publicly, and Jesus reluctantly does so. He then becomes a sort of fame-hungry diva, appearing on various talk shows and shunning Peter for groupies and limousines. Reactions were not favorable to the portrayal of Jesus as a famous snob. A Season 13 episode sees JC faking virginity in order to sleep with peoples’ wives, so… yeah.

“Airport ‘07”
This one can come off offensive because… well, it’s obvious. It’s a group of babies who emerge from a dumpster outside a school and croon about how they were thrown in a dumpster by secretive teen mothers on prom night. “Family Guy” writer and producer Wellesley Wild said that for cutaways, writers will present their ideas, and there are always one or two they presume will never make it to air. This tune was one such idea, and after it made it to air, Wild said “Once you get away with ‘Prom Night Dumpster Baby,’ that opens up a new precedent.” Writer Alec Sulkin’s defense of the joke was that the bad guys are those responsible for the actual acts and not the satirists.

“Brian & Stewie”
The Season 8 episode “Brian & Stewie” is different from your average episode, as it features no cutaways and serves to further develop the characters and friendship of Brian and Stewie Griffin. Nice, right? Well… it can’t go a full episode without something gross. The dog and baby end up accidentally locked in a bank vault over a weekend. Despite his wit and seeming maturity, Stewie is still a baby and inevitably ends up with a dirty diaper. In desperation and complete lack of a change, he asks Brian to consume the contents of the diaper, to which Brian hesitantly complies. Critics were understandably repulsed, disturbed and completely grossed out.

“Quagmire’s Dad”
Transgender issues are a touchy subject, and “Family Guy” was unsurprisingly unphased by this. In a Season 8 episode, we meet Quagmire’s dad, who’d been described by Glenn as the manliest of men. However, Peter and Joe come to expect that papa Quagmire is gay. It’s later revealed that the elder Quagmire isn’t gay but transgender. The elder Quagmire then undergoes sex reassignment surgery. Reception of the episode was mixed, with some finding the depiction offensive (especially when Brian sleeps with Ida and vomits upon learning of her transition). Others found it a sympathetic portrayal of a transgender individual. What do you think?

“The Splendid Source”
Ah, the cutaways… a constant source of potential outrage. In a Season 8 episode, a trip to the nation’s capital finds Peter and the gang driving by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Peter points out a Vietnamese man “giving the business” to Americans. We then see two US veterans visiting the memorial and being taunted by a Vietnamese veteran who refers to the memorial wall as a “scoreboard,” then points to a specific soldier on the wall whom he claims he killed. It’s really easy to see why this was ill-received by many, as it reduces the seriousness and massive death count of war to a sport. Some fans claim the gag puts down those who are already down.

“Peter Problems”
Any fan will recognize that “Family Guy” loves jokes that wear out their welcome. Remember that dead frog joke? Well, that was nothing compared to this one. In a 2014 episode, Peter gets a forklift and of course, shenanigans ensue. It goes a little too far when he arrives on a beach to aid in the rescue of a beached whale. In an attempt to lift the animal, Peter instead impales it with the forklift prongs, and spends nearly a full minute trying to get the whale into the water, gruesomely destroying it in the process. Is it funny or just nauseating? Oddly enough, something similar actually happened in 2015, when a whale corpse being airlifted made a mess on a Uruguayan beach.

“A Hero Sits Next Door”
In a Reddit AMA forum in 2017, a redditor asked Seth MacFarlane if he regretted any “Family Guy” scenes. Out of all the scenes one might expect him to name, MacFarlane answered that he “could do without the JFK Pez dispenser scene.” In Season 1 Episode 5, a child exits a store and proudly displays his John F. Kennedy Pez dispenser, only to have its headly promptly shot off. He then pulls a Robert Kennedy dispenser out, saying he’s glad he still has that one. The former president and senator were both assassinated, making this joke quite distasteful. In fact, the scene was cut from earlier DVD releases of the show.

“Tiegs for Two”
“Family Guy” occasionally features self-aware cutaway gags where they break the fourth wall to apologize or explain the jokes. This cutaway was introduced as usual, but cut to Peter against a plain background, explaining that they won’t show it because it will “make us all sad.” They of course show it anyway: Michael J. Fox with a tray of wine-filled glasses inevitably spills it all on Peter’s shirt due to his Parkinson’s disease. Another cutaway features the aftermath of Michael J. Fox cast as Zorro: erratic scrawls across a wall replace the iconic “Z” sword signature. These are in pretty poor taste. However, Fox himself has a sense of humor about his ailment, so we have to wonder if he was offended by these.

“Turban Cowboy”
This cutaway was already in poor taste, yet was also the victim of really bad timing. The 11th season episode “Turban Cowboy” features a cutaway in which Peter “won” the Boston Marathon. The thing is, he wasn’t running but driving through the crowd. About one month after this episode aired, the Boston Marathon bombings took place, taking the lives of three people and causing injuries for hundreds of attendees. The episode was pulled from airing again on Fox as well as multiple streaming services. There are some grim jokes on “Family Guy”, and this one isn’t much different. The coincidence, however, is uncanny.

“The Courtship of Stewie’s Father”
One resident of Spooner street has a penchant for the youthful. You know who we’re talking about… Herbert. He’s repeatedly shown interest in Chris, and in one particular episode, Herbert daydreams about his potential life with him. He sings “Somewhere That’s Green” from the musical “Little Shop of Horrors.” In the original song, the character Audrey sings of her potential perfect life with Seymour, having left behind her abusive boyfriend. Herbert imagines his perfect life, with himself as the wife. The problem here is that Herbert is clearly an offender, and these types of scenes appear to lessen the severity of the problem. Some viewers have surmised that his age and feebleness take away from the clear offense.

“Peter-assment”
The Terri Schiavo case, for those unaware, was a notorious court case that spanned several years. In 1990, Theresa Marie Schiavo, then twenty-six years old, collapsed in her home. Though she was resuscitated, the lack of oxygen to her brain had caused massive, irreparable damage. After two months, doctors declared her vegetative. In 1998 began a seven-year-long court case, riddled with appeals: Schiavo’s husband wished to remove her breathing tube, whereas her parents wished to keep her alive. “Family Guy” decided that the case would make a great musical for Stewie and his daycare buddies. It’s easy to see why this is in poor taste.

“Trading Places”
In a Season 9 episode titled “Trading Places,” Peter and Lois trade lives with Chris and Meg. This means Peter and Lois are high school students, and Peter takes this to a dark place quickly. He enters the kitchen the morning before school in an intimidating outfit, wielding a shotgun. He claims to want revenge for how the “popular kids” treated him. Lois tells him to call it off, which he tries and fails to do according to the response on his phone. There have been too many such real-life incidents to count, especially since this episode aired in 2011. This gag hits too close to home.

“Brian’s a Bad Father”
There are some things that arguably shouldn’t be joked about. Make what you will of this one: the subject matter is touchy but the punchline crosses the line in our opinion. Peter asks Lois how to take his own life. From another room, Meg (often a dark character) answers him, even giving him tips. This joke is as dark as jokes can get, and could have a negative effect as well, as the information provided is accurate from a medical perspective. It’s common to use comedy to deal with hardship, but there’s a limit.

“The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire”
Using a barbershop quartet to deliver bad news is potentially funny, but there’s always a line. In a Season 4 episode, we’re shown one of Peter’s countless alternate careers. He’s part of a quartet that eases the blow of tough hospital news by singing it. Cue “You Have AIDS.” “Family Guy” staff members reportedly defended the scene, claiming that the tasteless absurdity of the situation was the joke. Again, this could be seen as subjective. A Season 19 episode sees Peter revisit the moment, now partly regretting it: at least he knows what he did.

“When You Wish Upon a Weinstein”
Religious territory is sometimes close to hot water, and it’s easy to fall in. In a Season 3 episode, which was actually pulled from airing for some years, Peter finds himself in need of a good accountant. He sings a song where he wishes for a Jewish person to come help with his finances. The Jewish-financial stereotype isn’t new, and is normally taken in stride or even laughed about. But this time, “Family Guy” was sued by Bourne Music Company, original owners of “When You Wish Upon a Star.” They claimed that the parodied version contained offensive lyrics and took away from the wholesome nature of the original. They lost the case in 2009, and the episode was returned to syndication.

In a Season 14 episode, in what at least one viewer called a “swift dose of cruel truth,” “The Cosby Show’s” opening sequence is reimagined “knowing what we know now.” The classic TV sitcom opening credits sequence is then shown, with Bill Cosby dancing and pulling faces as he used to, yet his costars are… not well. This refers, of course, to the at least sixty women having accused Cosby of sexual misconduct. Honestly, it is a joke that makes us uncomfortable, but as stated above, it removes a mask we perhaps wanted to keep on. What do you think?