Seth MacFarlane, creator of The Family Guy, has been known to call celebrities out and predict public scandals over the years.
In an interview at the Fox’s Television Critics Association press tour, MacFarlane said, “I think the myth that Family Guy is this Kreskin-like prognosticator of this kind of stuff is a little sensationalized… It’s interesting that [with respect to] the narrative that’s been decided by others, the idea that Family Guy is this cartoon Ouija Board that predicts these things.”
MacFarlane noted that some fans thought Family Guy had hinted at Kevin Spacey’s abusive behavior long before they were made public. Last fall when Spacey was accused of sexual harassment, fans of Family Guy were quick to re-introduce a scene from a 2005 show. In the episode, Stewie runs through a store screaming, “Help! I’ve escaped from Kevin Spacey’s basement! Help me!”
“I remember, when [the joke] got pitched, that was a rumor I had not heard, but people in the writer’s room had. And it had to be sort of explained to me,” MacFarlane said. “‘Oh, there’s this rumor that’s going around.'”
MacFarlane went on to explain that many shows work with what they have, and what they hear, whether it be factual or not. MacFarlane stated, “I don’t know that there’s a lot of research against it. I think it’s sort of the modern thing where it’s more important to be first than it is to be right. And it gets out there and somebody else picks it up and somebody else picks it up and then it just becomes viral. It’s a strange thing to observe. Again, we play our show the same as anybody else and we make the same topical ones that The Simpsons does, that South Park does. And you work with what you have, whether that be swirling rumor or … fact.”