Beginning with FoxNews' video blog entry "Palin Slams 'Family Guy' Down Syndrome 'Joke'" which has Bill OReilly discussing how awful "Family Guy" was for making fun of disabled, particularly her son who was born with Down Syndrome.
Of course the truth of the matter is that "Family Guy" wasn't making fun of DS at all. Anyone who watches the show can tell that immediately. The character "Ellen" who going on a first date with "Chris Griffin" (a main character who is the oldest son) is portrayed as the intelligent, socially comfortable, and in many other ways superior one who Chris is pursuing who was born with Down Syndrome.
When Chris asks Ellen what her parents did for a living she said, "....and my Mom is a former governor of Alaska.". The joke was to Sarah Palin not her son and it's only a small sub-plot of the over all story-line from the episode, "Extra Large Medium" anyway.
But of course FoxNews' Sarah Palin starts going on TV, posting a FaceBook entry titled, "Fox Hollywood – What a Disappointment", and claiming the show is attacking her son, people with disabilities, and on and on.
Apparently what Sarah Palin didn't know was that Andrea F. Friedman the actress who portrays "Ellen" was born with Down Syndrome, has appeared in more then 12 films and TV shows including, "Amanda" the girlfriend of Charles "Corky" Thacher. "Corky", played by Chris Burke, was the main character of the ground breaking "Life Goes On", a series about family life centered on a teenager born with Down Syndrome.
Andrea has responded to the accusations Sarah Palin has made claiming the show was attacking her son and his disability. The blog Palingates posted a copy of a letter from Andrea F. Friedman that her father, Hal Friedman, sent to the New York Times and Palingates. In it Andrea says that she was not making fun of Trig or anyone born with DS, she would never do that. It was a joke.
Still the media pressed on.....moving on to accusing the show of taking advantage of Andrea, obviously not researching the woman at all. Had they just googled her they would have learned that among other things Andrea is a keynote speaker, who has traveled all over the country speaking as a motivational speaker who is a supporter of causes that help other challenged people. And when she isn't acting she works in the accounting department of a major law firm.
The site NewsBusters wrote an article titled, Family Guy's Down Syndrome Actress Responds To Sarah Palin stating: "Of course, Friedman is entitled to her opinion, and is to be commended for responding to the Palins' concerns. However, as neither she nor her family were the target of this joke, she is not the arbiter of decency; as much as she had the right to participate in this farce as an actress, the Palins have the right to be offended by it." And actually posted an update to the article ending with: Seem like Ms. Friedman might have an agenda?
Then when everything seemed to be calming down, I open an email from CNN with their blog entry post updates including this: "Palin 'Family Guy' joke is hateful" an article by Ruben Navarrette Jr. posted today on CNN's opinion page. I can't believe that this is still being reported by ANY news media this way. I especially can't believe that CNN is reporting it this way and this LONG after it happened. The Huffington Post's article, 'Family Guy' Actress Responds To Sarah Palin's Criticism is dated 02/18/2010. Heck even NewsBuster's update is from 2/19/20.
So my question is ARE YOU KIDDING ME CNN???
Peace, Light and Take Care,
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