Despite being a paraplegic cop in a wheelchair, Officer Joe Swanson may actually be the most badass character in Family Guy. In the show, we’ve seen him successfully negotiate hostage situations, capture Meg’s escaped convict boyfriend, and I think he even singlehandedly won a baseball game once.
Even still, there are people who say the character is ‘ableist’ and used to mock people with disabilities. Voice actor Patrick Warburton has this week come out to say that he is done with trying to apologise for the show. Warburton told Fox News:
‘I used to apologize for being on Family Guy, and I apologize no more because this world is a horrible native satire.
Everybody takes themselves too seriously, and… I think in many ways it’s become an overwhelming mess.
But we need humor in our lives, and we need love and humor, acceptance. It’s all rather simple.’
It would be interesting to see what actual wheelchair-bound viewers of Family Guy make of the Joe Swanson character, rather than the recreationally outraged types who want to find an ‘ism’ or ‘phobia’ in everything they see on TV and media.
Of course, Swanson’s disability is regularly mocked by his friends on the show – Peter, Cleveland and Quagmire (I think his wife has a few pops at him too). But then that’s a big part of what Family Guy is about – equal opportunity pxss-taking. Laughter is the best medicine, after all.
To meet the real life Peter Griffin, click HERE. Uncanny.
