Top 30 Family Guy Jokes that Crossed the Line

Long John Peter

Not even the most wholesome celebrities are safe from this shows twisted sense of humor. Thanks to films like Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox became one of the most beloved stars of the late 20th century. He shocked fans when he revealed his Parkinsons diagnosis. Youd think such a serious illness would be considered off-limits, but not to Family Guy. The death of Peters parrot makes him realize he messed up worse than Disney casting Fox as Zorro. The scene then cuts to the fictional movie, where the masked mans famous insignia is now unintelligible. It was clearly a dig at one of the diseases most recognizable symptoms a ridiculously low blow even by the shows standards.

420

Animal lovers may want to skip this one. While 420 is famous for its hilarious plot about weed becoming legal in Quahog, the inciting incident that leads up to it isnt quite as funny. Quagmire adopts a cat named James, and immediately becomes attached to him. This immediately annoys the rest of the gang, so much so that they decide to shave him as a prank. Peter immediately slaughters the cat to the horror of his friends. He brushes it off, claiming it has nine lives. This prompts him to keep going, counting down each time he cuts all while James blood continuously splatters onto him. It was shockingly violent, and the callback later on was the cruel cherry on top.

Pawtucket Pat

Not every real-life moment needs to be turned into a silly joke. After Brian tears down a statue commemorating problematic Quahog hero Pawtucket Pat, members of the town, including Peter, take to the park to express their anger. A group of counter-protesters arrives, insisting that the brewery should be closed and make juice instead. Furious, Peter starts a chant that sounds eerily similar to one used by white supremacist groups during the 2017 Unite the Right rallies in North Carolina. Its intended to be a silly pun making fun of their misplaced anger, but its so on-the-nose that it skips right over being funny and just becomes cringe instead.

Stew-Roids

She may be a villain, but she still doesnt deserve this. Throughout the series, Connie DAmico has been Megs biggest rival. Connie gets a taste of her own medicine when she fake-dates Chris to make him popular, and is subsequently ditched by him. Peters attraction was immediately clear, starting with an innuendo that ends in a movie reference. His behavior later escalates when Chris shoves Connie. Peter suggests lying on top of her to keep her warm, and then immediately acts on the idea. Its an uncomfortable sight, which he acknowledges by looking at the viewers and accosting them for their potential shock, claiming its just a cartoon. Its clear they knew they were going too far and just didnt care.

Jerome Is the New Black

Peter isnt exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but this ignorance often goes too far. Jerome was introduced in Season 8. After learning he dated Lois, Peter becomes so envious that he burns his friends house down, forcing Jerome to move in. His jealousy grows. In an attempt to make him leave, he donned a white hooded robe and brandished a torch a direct parallel to members of the Ku Klux Klan. When confronted, he said Jerome wouldnt want to stay in a house haunted by a fire-carrying ghost. Its clear they were trying to point out that Peter is so stupid he didnt realize what he was doing, but it didnt land at all.

"Peter Griffin: Husband, Father Brother?"

Quagmire has been a menace since the shows earliest days. In this Season Three episode, the subplot revolves around Stewie joining the cheer squad so that he can learn their supposed mind control powers. He easily infiltrates the group and eventually kidnaps Cindi, the head cheerleader, so that he can take her place. He ends up forgetting her afterwards. When the squad wonders where she is, it cuts to Quagmire finding her bound and gagged in the bathroom. As she lay there struggling and attempting to ask for help, he merely leers at her and says he hit the jackpot. It was disgusting even for him, showing just how vile he used to be.

Bri, Robot

Family Guy has never been afraid to reference uncomfortable moments. However, the way they address certain issues only highlights how depraved they are. One of the best examples is in Bri, Robot, wherein Brian is given a copy of Minions 3. Lois points out that in this iteration, Gru is replaced by defamed producer Harvey Weinstein. It then cuts to the faux film, showing the predator in nothing but a robe. He makes an innuendo about the creature working for bad guys, and tells it to touch him. The Minion responded with a fearful rendition of one of their popular phrases, making the implications clear. Seeing a character from a childrens movie juxtaposed with such an evil man was far more jarring than humorous.

Pawtucket Pat

If you thought the juice joke from this episode was in poor taste, then just wait until you hear this. While in the park to tear down the Pawtucket Pat statue, Stewie takes a moment to use the public park bathroom. He emerges a moment later with a lollipop, but a second later, text appears on the screen saying that he was assaulted and merely imagining it. As if that isnt harrowing enough, Brian then pretends he sees the candy as well, simply so he wont have to have a long talk about it. It cemented how much of a scumbag the dog could be, but the implications of what happened to poor Stewie were anything but comical.

Love, Blactually

If theres one thing this series isnt afraid to do, its ruin the innocence of some of our favorite childrens media. One of the most infamous examples occurs when Stewie and Brian come across a copy of Horton Hears Domestic Violence in the Next Apartment and Doesnt Call 911, a parody of the Dr. Seuss classic. It then cuts to the elephant sitting in his home and reading, while the sound of slightly muffled screams and physical abuse is heard offscreen. He ignores it, saying there must be two sides to the story. The abuse sounds so realistic that it ends up making the whole cutaway uncomfortable, even for the edgiest of viewers.

Movin Out (Brians Song)

Its no secret that Family Guy and The Simpsons have been in competition since the former started airing in 1999. The latter wasnt shy about poking fun at their successor and eventually, the Family Guy writers struck back. During a now-removed scene in Season 6, a fake ad for The Simpsons appeared, showing Marge waving to the camera. Quagmire suddenly pounced on her and chased her off-screen to presumably assault her. They then went back to the Simpson home to hook up again, leading to him slaughtering the entire family. It was a bizarrely violent escalation that forced producers to cut it from the initial broadcast. The joke still lives on in some versions, but time hasnt made it any funnier.

Baby Not on Board

Aquaman, perhaps prior to some more recent casting choices, didnt have the best reputation. Hes 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 wont help, he gives a pretty insensitive response. We get the Aquaman criticism, but cant help but think this joke wouldve 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 wasnt 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? Theres 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, were reintroduced to Quagmires 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 episodes 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 hes 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.

Herpe the Love Sore

Brian and Stewie have been in a lot of adventures: some good, some bad and some ridiculous. In an episode titled Herpe the Love Sore, Stewie learns about blood brothers and performs the ritual with Brian. However, he gets a little more than he anticipated when he wakes up with a herpes outbreak. Stewie is shunned by his daycare friends, has to call a former partner - hilariously a rip-off of Bob the builder named Handy Manny - and confess to Rupert. Brian continues to hide his affliction from his dates, but is thankfully stopped by Stewie and Chris. Critics considered the episode one of the worst, as it inaccurately portrayed the virus as well as reduced it to mere fodder for gross-out humor.

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 cant 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.

Glenn Quagmire loves the ladies so much, so you would expect the elder Quagmire to be the same - or even more of a womanizer. To subvert expectations, Seth MacFarlane and company went in a different direction - one that was roundly criticized. Quagmire Senior comes to Quahog, revealing herself to be transgender and planning to undergo gender-affirming surgery. That in itself isn't over the line, but the transphobic jokes were - especially when Brian sleeps with Ida Quagmire and vomits upon learning of her transition. Many groups raised serious concerns about the episode, including the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, saying it used offensive language and perpetuated harmful stereotypes about transgender people. For his part, Seth MacFarlane stood by the episode, believing it to be a "sympathetic" portrayal.

The Splendid Source

Ah, the cutaways a constant source of potential outrage. In a Season 8 episode, a trip to the nations 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. Its 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 hes 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 wont 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 Peters shirt due to his Parkinsons disease. 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 wasnt 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 isnt much different. The coincidence, however, is uncanny.

The Courtship of Stewies Father

One resident of Spooner street has a penchant for the youthful. You know who were talking about Herbert. Hes repeatedly shown interest in Chris, and in one particular episode, Herbert daydreams about his potential life with him. He sings Somewhere Thats 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: Schiavos 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. Its 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.

Brians a Bad Father

There are some things that arguably shouldnt 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. Its common to use comedy to deal with hardship, but theres a limit.

The ClevelandLoretta Quagmire

Using a barbershop quartet to deliver bad news is potentially funny, but theres always a line. In a Season 4 episode, were shown one of Peters countless alternate careers. Hes 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 its 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 isnt 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.

Peter's Sister

In a Season 14 episode, in what at least one viewer called a swift dose of cruel truth, The Cosby Shows 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?

Which Family Guy joke do you think went too far? Let us know in the comments below!