Seth MacFarlane, creator of the irreverent animated show “Family Guy,” once likened the barrage of blistering attacks on the program — and him — from the Parents Television Council to “getting hate mail from Hitler.”Advertisement
The two men inhabit such different strata that Winter initially didn’t know what MacFarlane meant four years ago when he suggested they meet at “the Chateau.” Winter called a Hollywood friend for a translation: Chateau Marmont. He has released five studio albums. The baritone has long had an affinity for the Rat Pack era; framed images of Frank Sinatra adorn his office.
PTC called the episode “stupid” and filled with “misogyny ... crude references to sex acts and genitalia … and self-congratulatory narcissism posing as humor!” “What is the cumulative impact on children who watched those programs?” Winter wrote. “I humbly and respectfully ask you to help change the dialogue.”“I was properly humbled,” MacFarlane said, “and I figured that I gotta give him a call.”When the phone rang in Winter’s downtown Los Angeles offices, late on Good Friday in 2015, Winter assumed it was a prankster.
“Seth is a truly open-minded person,” Rich Appel, who now oversees “Family Guy” as its executive producer, said in an interview. “If he hears something that makes sense to him, then he will refine his own position. He’s never going to shut the door in someone’s face.”