‘Family Guy’ Actor Says Palins Didn’t Get the Joke
Turns out that Andrea Fay Friedman, the voice actor who played the part of Ellen on the last episode of "Family Guy," has Down syndrome, as does her character on Fox's cheeky cartoon As it also happens, Friedman thinks Sarah Palin (continued).
Turns out that Andrea Fay Friedman, the voice actor who played the part of Ellen on the last episode of “Family Guy,” has Down syndrome, as does her character on Fox’s cheeky cartoon. As it also happens, Friedman thinks Sarah Palin got the wrong idea from one of Ellen’s wisecracks on the show, when the character tells her dinner date, “I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska.”
That apparently didn’t sit well with Palin, now a Fox News commentator, who called the creators of “Family Guy” “cruel, coldhearted people” and made room on her Facebook page for one of her actual daughters, Bristol, to signal her own disapproval as well. To both Palins, Friedman offered the following hint in an exchange with The New York Times: “I think the word is ‘sarcasm.’ “
In a Times interview published Thursday, Friedman had more to say about the Palins, “Family Guy” and her career.
Your support matters…The New York Times:
Q. When did you find out about the reaction that the episode elicited from Sarah Palin and her family?
A. [laughs] That I did not even know about until my mom told me, “You’re on Channel 4!” And when I watched on Channel 4, on “Extra,” and I saw Sarah Palin with her son Trig. I’m like, “I’m not Trig. This is my life.” I was making fun of Sarah Palin, but not her son.
Q. Do you agree with what she and her daughter Bristol were saying, that the character and the jokes were insulting to people with Down syndrome?
A. It’s not really an insult. I was doing my role, I’m an actor. I’m entitled to say something. It was really funny. I was laughing at it. I had a nice time doing voiceover. It was my first time doing a voiceover, and I had fun.
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Sarah Palin's strict views have turned her into a grandma for the second time; al-Qaida takes a page out of Disney's book to recruit children; meanwhile, Facebook fights Google+ by adding news to its online community. These discoveries and more after the jump.
As if schlocky TV and American politics weren't harrowingly similar enough already, this week brings the word that onetime tea party Senate hopeful Christine O'Donnell of Delaware got the invite to join the prancing cohort of celebs on the next "Dancing With the Stars."
Forgive us this unabashed descent into mass culture, but our long national nightmare is over. Bristol Palin, despite some critics' allegations of tea party favoritism, did not win on "Dancing With the Stars." That honor (if it is one) goes to "Dirty Dancing" star Jennifer Grey, because nobody puts Baby in a corner.
And then the next thing you know, another Palin pops out of the woodwork. This time, it's 16-year-old Willow Palin's turn to frolic in her own notoriety, but hers is not a shining moment to make her mama grizzly proud -- or at least let's hope not.
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