Is Seth MacFarlane Racist?

Seth MacFarlane is well-known for producing “Family Guy,” “Bordertown,” “Ted,” and “American Dad!” While he got kind reviews, he was also criticized about his works. He’s works were mainly criticized by the people the reason because it contained racial discrimination content and people found it offensive. “Bordertown” for example, is a sitcom that follows families living in a Southwest desert town on the United States near Mexico border. According to Latin Times, “Bordertown” includes offensive humor that will most likely get under people’s skin and be considered racist such as Hispanic origin speaking very broken language. One of his famous animated sitcom “Family Guy” deal with a lot of racial discrimination.

Lacroix in her journal “High Stakes Stereotypes,” she chose an episode that featured Native Americans working the casino. In that episode, all the native workers in the casino wear name tags with names that are insulting as more and more characters appear. There are old characters and shirtless guy name with “Running Bear,” “Change for a Buck,” and “Watches You Pee” who was bathroom attendant in the men’s restroom (pg.9). Most of MacFarlane’s works portray stereotypes of different races.

When I watched “Family Guy” and saw racism content, I rather found it funny and didn’t find it offensive. I didn’t find it offensive because I just regarded it as a joke or a satire. However, I understand that a lot of people especially these days are sensitive about “jokes” that are included in the sitcoms. MacFarlane might intentionally stereotyped the characters according to their race to make his shows entertaining and to form sympathy with the viewers. I think there is a reason he keeps his way of portraying different race in stereotypical way even though he has been criticized reviews about the shows he produced. I think he should be more careful when forming characters of different race in his shows if he cares the negative reviews he is getting.