“Household Man” has fought towards political correctness and offensive jokes as a lot as Peter has with an excessively massive rooster, even pushing the buttons of Oscar-winning actors. Nevertheless, there was one episode specifically that received the present in hotter water than common when Russia took an affront to the two-part season 21 finale starting with episode 19, “From Russia With Love,” after which adopted up by “Grownup Schooling.” The episodes’ storyline noticed Meg (Mila Kunis, who changed the character’s unique voice actor Lacey Chabert in season 2) cross the waters to Chelyabinsk, Russia and marry a pc hacker named Ivan. Pushing issues to the restrict, the second-part of the two-parter included one of many present’s signature tongue-in-cheek songs, “This Previous City,” which had Meg dancing round her new dwelling in a means that mirrored Belle in Disney’s “Magnificence and the Beast.”
Authorities officers didn’t take kindly to Chelyabinsk being mocked like this, with Newsweek revealing in 2023 that an effort was made to ban “Household Man.” Talking on Russia’s Rise relating to the episode, Chelyabinsk regional deputy Yana Lantratova declared, “The artist has the correct to his imaginative and prescient, however this can be a intentionally offensive inventive picture that has nothing to do with actuality.” Particularly, Lantratova took difficulty with the musical sequence’s depiction of Chelyabinsk, stating, “This can be a deliberate work towards our nation. Data warfare by means of inventive works. They intentionally create a picture of Russia as a rustic the place everyone seems to be sad with life, ingesting, utilizing medication, taking bribes.”
Household Man has thrown offense throughout the globe
Whereas it is easy to know why Russia received riled up relating to “Household Man” and the way in which it depicted Chelyabinsk, they would not be the primary nation to be poked enjoyable at by Peter Griffin (Seth McFarlane) and the remainder of Quahog’s locals. In keeping with the present (which has now been working for greater than 22 seasons), it’s very regular for a person to marry a ship in Australia. In the meantime, in England, apparently nobody has clear enamel and everybody speaks absolute gibberish. That being stated, “Household Man” went after Russia effectively earlier than Meg’s little sing-song and even dared to make a joke in a foreign country’s present chief, Vladimir Putin.
Up to now, Russia’s chief has appeared in 4 episodes of “Household Man,” together with one which has Putin behave like “Raiders of the Misplaced Ark” villain Main Arnold Toht. Finally, the present’s creator, Seth McFarlane, whereas just lately admitting that there’s one joke he regrets, really feel the sequence’ followers are savvy sufficient to know that it is all within the identify of excellent enjoyable. “Audiences can odor the distinction between social media advantage signaling and actual offense,” he instructed the Los Angeles Instances in April 2024. “If it is actual offense, you did not get away with the comedy.”
