Last week, actress Carol Burnett filed a lawsuit against Fox’s animated show Family Guy at the United States District Court in Los Angeles, California. The complaint was for copyright infringement, statutory violation of right of privacy, and misappropriation of name among other claims. With the said violations, Burnett is seeking more than $2 million.

Family Guy, a series created by Seth MacFarlane, centers on the adventures and mostly misadventure of the Griffin family comprising of the married couple Peter and Lois, and their three children Meg, Chris and their sadistic baby Stewie, plus their talking dog Brian.


In July of 2005, Burnett denied the producers of Family Guy when they asked permission to use the popular theme music from her former CBS television program in an episode of Family Guy entitled “Peterotica.”

According to the lawsuit, the said episode, which aired last year on April 23, featured Peter entering a porn shop where a lampoon of Carol Burnett was working.

"The Peterotica episode of Family Guy shows Peter entering a porn shop with several other characters, including a character named Quagmire. As they enter the porn shop, Peter comments that he expected the porn shop to be dirty. Quagmire responds that the porn shop is clean because 'Carol Burnett works part-time as a janitor,”' the suit continues. “The camera then shifts to show Ms. Burnett's 'Charwoman' character complete with trademarked blue bonnet, bucket and mop, mopping the floor of the porn shop in front of a row of blow-up dolls while a slightly altered version of 'Carol's Theme' is playing. One of the other characters then says, 'You know when she tugged her ear at the end of that show, she was really saying goodnight to her mom.' Quagmire then makes a vulgar reference to Ms. Burnett and her father, responding, "I wonder what she tugged to say goodnight to her dad."'

-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist

Source: Tv.com