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Comedienne Carol Burnett Files Suit Against “Family Guy”

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March 16th, 2007 by Castina

Tagged as: Fox


Legendary comedienne Carol Burnett doesn’t think Fox’s cult-comedy “Family Guy,” is very funny. And she’s suing.

In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, C.B says the show used one of her signature gags without her permission.

Burnett alleges that FOX requested permission to use “Carol’s Theme” — the theme music from “The Carol Burnett Show” — in an episode of “Family Guy.” When permission was denied, the lawsuit claims that FOX then went back and had the show rewritten to “disparage Ms. Burnett using Ms. Burnett’s signature ear tug.”In the episode titled “Peterotica,” the main character on “Family Guy,” Peter, goes into a porn shop and remarks how clean it is.

One of his friends says it is clean because “Carol Burnett works part-time as a janitor.”

The lawsuit says the camera then cuts to one of Burnett’s signature characters from her TV show — “Charwoman” — wearing her “trademarked blue bonnet, bucket and mop” and “a slightly altered version of ‘Carol’s Theme’ is playing.”

Later in the scene, one character makes fun of Burnett’s signature ear tug by saying, “She was really saying goodnight to her mom.” To which another replies, “I wonder what she tugged to say goodnight to her dad.” In fact, Burnett’s ear tug was actually a hello to her grandmother.

Burnett claims this was all done without her permission or consent and is seeking in excess of $6 million in damages.

Fox has released this statement:

“‘Family Guy,’ like the ‘Carol Burnett Show,’ is famous for its pop culture parodies and satirical jabs at celebrities. We are surprised that Ms. Burnett, who has made a career of spoofing others on television, would go so far as to sue ‘Family Guy’ for a simple bit of comedy.”

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