Was the Family Guy episode featuring a character with Down syndrome offensive, or all in good fun? In case you missed it, Disability News provides this synopsis:
The episode shows Chris going on a date with a woman with Down syndrome who tells him, in an apparent slap at [Sarah] Palin, "My dad's an accountant and my mom's the former governor of Alaska." In a song-and-dance number leading up to the date, Chris' brother Stewie salutes the woman as a "Down syndrome girl", and adds such descriptions as "little whore," "poorly grooming," "as-of-Monday-shoelace-tying," "just a little crooked walking" and "a special person's wettest dream."
Sarah Palin was quick to protest, taking the reference to the former governor of Alaska as a dig at her son Trig and sharing a letter from her daughter Bristol begging tolerance for Trig and others like him.
The actress who provided the voice for the character, however, thinks the Palins should get a sense of humor. In an e-mail to the New York Times, Andrea Friedman (pictured), who has Down syndrome, wrote, "I thought the line 'I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska' was very funny. I think the word is 'sarcasm.' In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life." Her mother agrees. According to an item in Disability News, "Marjorie Friedman says the 'Family Guy' episode was inspirational to other people with Down syndrome because it portrayed them as 'everyday teens.""
This reminds me of the flap over Family Guy making fun of deaf actress Marlee Matlin's speaking voice, which Matlin made clear in a self-lampooning appearance on a live episode was just fine with her. It's certainly more fun to be laughing with than laughed at, and there's something to be said for the argument that treating people with disabilities as too fragile and special to be part of the comedy mix like everybody else is insulting in its own way. Whether rough comic treatments are cruel or cool is often in the eye of the beholder.
Did you see the Family Guy episode in question? If you've got the stomach for it, you can view the whole episode or just the "Down Syndrome Girl" number on Hulu. Check my daily and weekly news folders for more on the story, and share your own thoughts in the comments.
Photo by Chris Hatcher/Getty Images