Family Guy Has Burnett Feeling Copyrighteous
While most people laughed when Family Guy spoofed the classic Charwoman character from The Carol Burnett Show last year, one person, at least, was not amused.
Unfortunately, it was Carol Burnett.
The veteran comedienne and Whacko Inc., the company she conducts business through, sued 20th Century Fox for copyright infringement Thursday in federal court, accusing Fox of "knowingly and deliberately" lifting her creation for the Apr. 23, 2006, episode of the hit animated series.
A cartoon version of the Charwoman appears in the episode "Peterotica," in which ne'er-do-well Peter Griffin tries his hand at penning erotic novels, eventually bankrupting his father-in-law in the process after a man gets all hot and bothered while listening to one of Peter's audio books (narrated by Betty White, natch), crashes his car and sues the Pewterschmidts.
Anyway, the Charwoman shows up as the maid at Pornoslavia, an adult bookstore Peter visits with pal Quagmire, who remarks that the store is so clean because "Carol Burnett works part-time as a janitor." In the background, a variation on the Carol Burnett Show theme is playing.
According to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Fox approached Burnett about using "Carol's Theme" in the episode and was told that she only licenses her music in association with The Carol Burnett Show or personal appearances.
"After permission to use Ms. Burnett's theme music was denied, Plaintiffs are informed and believe that Fox caused the 'Peterotica' episode to be rewritten to disparage Ms. Burnett using Ms. Burnett's signature ear tug," court documents state.
In addition to Quagmire's Burnett reference, another character says, "You know when she tugged her ear at the end of that show, she was really saying goodnight to her mom," to which Quagmire replies, "I wonder what she tugged to say goodnight to her dad."
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, asks that Fox re-edit the episode "to remove any reference to Ms. Burnett, her likeness, the Charwoman character and theme music, but Fox has so far refused to do so."
Burnett, whose pioneering sketch comedy show ran from 1967-1978 on CBS and won 24 Emmys, is also seeking more than $6 million in damages.
Her suit charges 20th Century Fox with copyright infringement, violation of the Lanham Act (which governs trademark registration), statutory violation of right of publicity and common law misappropriation of name and likeness.
A statement from the studio expresses surprise over Burnett's actions, especially considering her Family Guy depiction amounted to about 18 seconds of an episode chockfull of other cultural parodies.
To name a few: Peter watches a movie called The Picnic featuring Renée Zellweger inhaling an army of invading ants; Julia Roberts takes an arrogant turn in a tsunami relief commercial; Quagmire spoofs "Make 'Em Laugh" from Singin' In the Rain; several titles in the porn shop make fun of books such as Harry Potter and Angela's Ashes; a dream sequence features Peter starring in Quahog's Creek; and there are references to Return of the Jedi, The Tracey Ullman Show and more.
"Family Guy, like The Carol Burnett Show, is famous for its pop culture parodies and satirical jabs at celebrities," read the statement from Fox. "We are surprised that Ms. Burnett, who has made a career of spoofing others on television, would go so far as to sue Family Guy for a simple bit of comedy."
Burnett, who also starred as Miss Hannigan in the big-screen version of Annie, most recently had a recurring roll as Helen Hunt's mother on Mad About You and has guest-starred on Desperate Housewives. The 73-year-old funnywoman will also lend her voice to next year's Horton Hears a Who, alongside Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Isla Fisher, Jaime Pressly, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler and Dane Cook.
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