FOX “A Different Company Than It Was When I Started”

Along with the myriad of projects he has either on screens currently (Family Guy, American Dad, The Orville, etc.) or has on the way (like a Ted prequel series for Peacock as part of the overall deal between Fuzzy Door and NBCUniversal’s UCP), the other topic surrounding multimedia powerhouse Seth MacFarlane that we’ve been covering on a regular basis is his disdain towards having to still do business with FOX, also home of the 24-hour propaganda machine known as FOX “News” (which we spoke about this morning). Speaking earlier today at the 13th annual Produced By conference, MacFarlane explained why his feelings towards the company took a downturn, discussed if FOX ever attempted to censor Family Guy for political reasons, and why there’s a need for an honest conservative news channel.

MacFarlane on Why It’s Tough to “Reconcile” His Relationship with FOX Now: “It’s an incredibly complicated relationship that I have with that company. There are people there with whom I have great personal relationships. There are people that I like a lot. But it is a different company than it was when I started. It’s very difficult for me to reconcile exactly what my relationship is with that company right now. I, like many people, have a lot of issues and a lot of objections to their practices. Certainly, the news division and the entertainment division operate relatively independently of each other, and that’s something that allowed a lot of us to sleep a little better” (though he referred to the decision to have Trump stooge Rudy Giuliani as a contestant on The Masked Singer “distressing”). MacFarlane added, “My overall reaction – and I know I’m not alone – to what the company does and how they communicate what they choose to communicate and what they think is acceptable is, I have a lot of objections.”

FOX Never Attempted to Censor “Family Guy” for Political Reasons: ” I dump on FOX a lot, but I will say the whole time I was there, no one ever tried to censor the show politically. There’s a very laissez-faire attitude that worked great for us…I was never censored and I was never pressured to project a different political outlook.”

MacFarlane Believes There’s a Need for Honest Conservative News (But FOX “News” Ain’t It): “The tragedy for me is that I think there actually, in this day and age, really is an opening and a need for, God help me, a conservative news outlet that is rational and that presents an opposing viewpoint in a way that is thoughtful and that acknowledges the truth and acknowledges science and acknowledges the reality of the world around us. And that doesn’t really exist. At one point, you could make the argument that Fox News was headed in that direction, and they’ve really taken a right turn that that has gone someplace radically different. To me, the ideal situation would be if they could course correct and make a conscious moral decision to try and be that, to let that be their role going forward. I don’t think there’s a chance in hell, but you never know.”