ALL THUMBS: Giovanni Ribisi (above) and Martin Mull star in the already controversial Fox sitcom“Dads,” along with Seth Green and Brenda Song (inset). (
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Seth Green and Brenda Song star in the already controversial Fox sitcom“Dads.” (
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An Asian American group is demanding that Fox “fix fatal flaws” in its upcoming sitcom, “Dads,” executive-produced by “Family Guy” guru Seth MacFarland.
The Media Action Network for Asian Americans has sent a letter to Fox entertainment chief Kevin Reilly and other network officials asking that “racist” scenes be reshot before the show’s fall premiere.
“Our community can’t continue to be the target of racially insensitive jokes,” MANAA founding president Guy Aoki wrote. “Fox has an opportunity to fix fatal flaws in the pilot and to improve the show’s chances for success when it premieres next month. We are asking you to reshoot the inappropriate scenes of the pilot.”
The sitcom revolves around two pals (Seth Green, Giovanni Ribisi) whose fathers (Peter Riegert, Martin Mull) move in with them.
Aoki said the show perpetrates “racial and sexual stereotypes,” citing a scene in which actress Brenda Song dresses up as a “sexy Asian schoolgirl,” and Mull’s character calls Asians “Orientals.”
“[N]o one corrected him (will he later call blacks ‘negroes?’),” Aoki wrote. “He later warned his son that he couldn’t trust the Chinese, that ‘there’s a reason Shanghai’s a verb.’ ”
At a gathering of TV critics earlier this month, Fox’s Reilly defended the show.
“They are going to try to be equal-opportunity offenders. Do I think all the jokes right now are in calibration in the pilot? I don’t,” he said.
“But I can tell you right now, I have never seen a comedy in which all the jokes are in calibration. That’s the nature of comedy.”
“Dads” premieres Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m.