Policy

It's Not True That Corrupt Presidents-For-Life Are the Only People Who Don't Like Family Guy, But…

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…it is true that Hugo Chavez doesn't like The Family Guy. Charlie Devereux reports:

Venezuelan state TV today broadcast an excerpt from "Family Guy" as an example of how the U.S. promotes drug use. The clip features Stewie, the matricide-obsessed infant son of Peter and Lois Griffin, singing a song extolling the virtues of smoking weed.

"We can observe how [the U.S. government] promotes and incites the population to consume that drug there," said Tarek El Aissaimi, Venezuela's Interior Minister. "There's no subliminal message. It's an animated cartoon where you can observe perfectly how they promote consumption and moreover they foster the legalization of marijuana."

Since I don't know what the bracketed "the U.S. government" replaces, I can't be sure El Aissaimi is accusing the government of promoting pot, but I can see how an outside observer -- particularly one whose own understanding of the concept of independent media is not strong -- might get the impression that the broadcast networks take their orders directly from Uncle Sam. El Assaimi is reacting to a July 20 GAO report accusing Venezuela of opposing the United States in the global war on some drugs.

Full piece, with a clip of the musical number, here.

Update: Thanks to commenter Jonas for correcting my Fox pas of giving Family Guy an article.