Parents Television Council Up in Arms over Family Guy’s Statutory Rape Episode
You would think by now the Parents Television Council would just leave Family Guy alone. But no, after an episode this past week that featured a subplot about statutory rape, the PTC has released a statement condemning the show and claiming it violated the “broadcast indecency law.”
In the show, which aired at 9 p.m., Griffin family neighbor Quagmire ends up sleeping with a 15-year-old high school girl, who he thought was 23. How this episode was more “indecent” than any other episode of the deliberately-controversial show, is in the eye of the beholder.
In a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, PTC president Tim Winter said:
“We believe that Family Guy’s description of this explicit sexual terminology violates the broadcast indecency law. And we believe that joking about statutory rape, as Family Guy did throughout this episode, exceeds contemporary community standards of decency for the broadcast medium. As such, we urge our members, as well as other Americans who agree that the broadcast was legally indecent, to file formal indecency complaints with the FCC.
“Sexual assault is an increasingly troubling problem across America. Joking about child rape on TV shows and using such patently offensive sexual dialogue — especially when they air at such an early hour and when they attract such a young viewing audience – is a gross violation of a broadcast licensee’s public interest obligation.”
The campaign against Family Guy appears to have briefly distracted the PTC from taking down its primary target of late: Sex Box.
Watch a clip from Quagmire’s trial below, via Fox:
[h/t Uproxx]
[Photo via screengrab]
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