Sarah Palin is sounding off on Sunday night’s episode of Family Guy, which seemed to mock the youngest of the politician’s two sons, Trig, who suffers from Down syndrome. Instead of lighting into producers of the popular animated series — similar to what she’s done after run-ins with David Letterman, Rush Limbaugh, and White House’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel — the former Alaska governor’s enlisted Trig’s big sister, Bristol, to speak for the family.
The show — which aired on Palin’s new employer FOX over the weekend– is accused of evoking Palin’s 22-month-old son for a storyline in which hapless character Chris Griffin asks out a rude classmate who has Down syndrome. When he asks the girl about her parents, she replies that her mother is the former governor of Alaska. Not surprising, considering Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane — an Obama supporter — regularly ridiculed then-VP-candidate Palin during the 2008 presidential race. While she’s gotten used to living under public scrutiny, Bristol believes her baby brother and his disability should be off limits.
“When you’re the son or daughter of a public figure, you have to develop thick skin. My siblings and I all have that, but insults directed at our youngest brother hurt too much for us to remain silent. People with special needs face challenges that many of us will never confront, and yet they are some of the kindest and most loving people you’ll ever meet,” the 19-year-old single mom wrote in a statement entitled “Fox Hollywood — What a Disappointment” and posted to her mother’s Facebook page on Monday.
“Their lives are difficult enough as it is, so why would anyone want to make their lives more difficult by mocking them? As a culture, shouldn’t we be more compassionate to innocent people – especially those who are less fortunate? Shouldn’t we be willing to say that some things just are not funny? Are there any limits to what some people will do or say in regards to my little brother or others in the special needs community? If the writers of a particularly pathetic cartoon show thought they were being clever in mocking my brother and my family yesterday, they failed. All they proved is that they’re heartless jerks. – Bristol Palin”