Family Guy has touched on pretty much every taboo subject imaginable over the years, but that doesn’t mean creator Seth MacFarlane is proud of everything the show has done. In a 2012 interview with Entertainment Weekly, MacFarlane revealed at least one gag he had second thoughts about. “There have been jokes that I would have rather we not have done,” MacFarlane admitted. “The JFK Pez dispenser was something I would probably not do now.”
The gag was from Season 1’s “A Hero Sits Next Door,” in which Peter becomes jealous of his wheelchair-bound neighbor, Joe Swanson, who also happens to be a heroic police officer. To show how heroic he can be, Peter attempts to stop a bank robbery. In the process, he gets mistaken for the robber and nearly gets shot by a police officer. Thankfully, Lois grabs the cop’s gun at the last second, causing the bullet to miss Peter.
As this happens, a little boy runs out of a nearby store, showing off his new John F. Kennedy Pez dispenser. The bullet meant for Peter then immediately blows the head off of the miniature JFK. “Oh. Good thing I still have my Bobby Kennedy Pez dispenser,” the boy says in response. This is, of course, in reference to the fact that both Kennedy brothers were assassinated.
You can check out the segment, which was removed from later broadcasts, right here:
Seth MacFarlane Had Second Thoughts About This Early ‘Family Guy’ Joke
MacFarlane singling out this particular JFK joke is odd, considering that just a few years before his Entertainment Weekly interview, Family Guy aired a parody of the former president’s assassination that some have argued is even more offensive.
In 2009’s “Road to the Multiverse,” Stewie and Brian end up in an alternate universe where Mayor McCheese of McDonald’s fame gets killed instead of JFK. Afterward, Jacqueline Kennedy is shown eating the parts of his head that were blown off:
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