Family Guy asks for the Emmy consideration of "bloated, overprivileged Brentwood Jews"

By Sean O'Neal | May 30, 2012 | 10:27pm

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Continuing a history of knowingly futile campaigning, the producers of Family Guy recently sent out a mailer to Emmy voters asking for their Outstanding Comedy Series endorsement—an appeal they pitched with the above picture of Peter Griffin saying, "Come on, you bloated, overprivileged Brentwood Jews. Let us into your little club." Predictably, some have already taken umbrage with the implication that there are a lot of wealthy Jewish people clustered in affluent L.A. neighborhoods who control the entertainment industry: The Hollywood Reporter quotes several anonymous recipients of the card, whose reviews range from the obligatory smackdown of "If Family Guy was that funny on a regular basis, it might get nominated," to those who find it "so heavy-handed… It's light on funny" (though it's unclear whether they mean the mailer or the show).

One from a self-identified "Brentwood Jew" says that, while they "think Family Guy is a genuinely funny show," they also believe "we all need to think twice about this kind of humor. Stereotyping any particular ethnic group is just not cool and can lead others (with the wrong intentions) to feel a certain license to take shots," adding, "Surely Seth [MacFarlane] has better stuff than this"—despite, eh, this actually being pretty on par. Anyway, as with 2010's Precious-spoofing, "Vote For Us Or You're Racist" campaign, the Family Guy guys seem well aware that there's no way they're ever going to best their competition. (Like the inside of the card acknowledges, "It’s a secret ballot. You can still tell people you voted for Modern Family.") Next year, maybe they should just go for broke and send out dead rats stuffed with asbestos or something.