Fox’s animated shows have a proud tradition of gently ribbing their network, whether it was for those specials about the most extreme animal attacks from back in the day or for the tyrannical machinations of owner Rupert Murdoch, but it sounds like Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s frustrations are becoming too big for the occasional snotty aside from Peter Griffin. As reported by Deadline, MacFarlane tweeted this weekend that he’s “embarrassed” to work for the company that owns Fox News, with his comment being prompted by Fox News host Tucker Carlson telling viewers to ignore everything they hear from non-Fox News sources and just blindly follow every bit of pro-Trump bullshit they barf out. (Carlson didn’t use those exact words, but it was close.)
This may just be MacFarlane venting a little bit about his indirect association with the most irresponsible “news” organization in the country, but Deadline points out that MacFarlane’s overall development deal with 20th Century Fox will expire next year. That suggests that his frustration here could be the sort of thing that drives him to a new network or forces Fox to spend a bit more to keep him around, but that would probably depend on what happens with Disney and Comcast’s competing attempts to take over Fox (since Fox News won’t be leaving with Fox’s TV studios, meaning MacFarlane won’t be indirectly tied to it for much longer).