RUSSIA: Animated U.S. television show "Family Guy" has spoofed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin by lampooning him as a macho spymaster

Record ID: 754951

  • Title: RUSSIA: Animated U.S. television show "Family Guy" has spoofed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin by lampooning him as a macho spymaster
  • Date: 21st October 2009
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (OCTOBER 16, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) DMITRY STOLBOVOI, STUDENT, SAYING: "Of course you may laugh at it but on the other hand who would want be laughed at around the world, this would not be correct, so the same with Putin." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) FEDOR MIRONENKO, STUDENT, SAYING: "Why not to laugh at [Putin] they make jokes about American politicians, Iranian and Iraqi politicians, so what is the difference."
  • Embargoed: 5th November 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA10ANXW4XIKLH2L9144IBZXA02
  • Story Text: Animated U.S. television show "Family Guy" has spoofed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin by lampooning him as a macho spymaster who entraps enemy spooks and lights cigarettes with a Kalashnikov rifle.
    The subversive award-winning show, which has featured bestiality, incest and stars Brian the talking dog, centers around one-year-old Stewie who speaks in a faux upper class English accent and abhors his middle class American parents.
    The third episode of its eighth season, "Spies Reminiscent of Us" premiered on October 11 on U.S. television channel Fox, and features Stewie and Brian on an adventure in Russia, where passersby are large, hat-wearing bears pedaling unicycles.
    Police, clad in dark trenchcoats and fur caps with red stars, accuse Stewie and Brian of being U.S. spies and whisk them off to see the Putin character, who is brooding in an office underneath portraits of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin on his walls.
    Putin horrifies the duo, along with Hollywood actors Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, who starred in the 1980s Cold War comedy "Spies Like Us", and whose animated characters are voiced by the real-life stars, by pointing a Kalashnikov at them and transforming chained sticks into a coat hanger just like the Nazi baddy in the film "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
    But it all turns out to be in jest.
    In a clear pun on Putin's name, Stewie asks between guffaws: "He was puttin' us on, right?"
    The episode, which also shows Stewie turning into the ubiquitous Russian nesting doll, has sprung up on several popular Russian media sites and was praised by some viewers for its humor value.
    "'Family Guy' as well as 'South Park' -- these series are treading a fine line between politically correct or incorrect, and if they are a bit incorrect this is good because they may raise some questions, I am positive about it, let them make fun," said a Moscow student Alexander Zaltsman. "I think that Putin is a controversial figure, so it is possible and necessary to have controversial attitude."
    "If there will not be such cartoons done, it will be awful. It is necessary to make laugh, to have humor," added another student, Artem Vlasov.
    But a Muscovite Maria Korobova said jokes like that were unacceptable: "I think that this is Americans who try to humiliate us and it is horrible."
    Putin's spokesman could not be reached for comment.
    Called "The Griffins" in Russian after Stewie's surname, "Family Guy" is produced by the U.S. Fox Broadcasting Company, which also produces popular cartoon series "The Simpsons."
    Putin has also appeared on TV cartoon show "South Park," produced by The Comedy Channel.
    In 2003, Harry Potter's house-elf Dobby caused a stir in the Russian press when comparisons were made between Putin, then president, and the miniature pale creature with flappy ears and large green eyes.
    Many say Putin could stay at the helm for another decade unless unforeseen external factors intervene.
    A youthful-looking 56, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin burnished his macho public image earlier inthe year with photographs of his holiday in Tyva. The videos show Putin riding a horse bare-chested, swimming butterfly stroke in a river and catching fish in Siberia -- hardly the look of a man eyeing retirement.
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