7 Actors Who Were Pissed Off At Animated Parodies Of Themselves
3. Carol Burnett In Family Guy
Comedian Carol Burnett was only a small cutaway gag in Family Guy episode Peterotica, but this was enough to spark a lawsuit.
Burnett believed the episode broke copyright in which it made a visual reference to her charwoman character from The Carol Burnett Show. She ordered 20th Century Fox Television to either reedit the episode to remove her or pay up to $6 million for copyright infringement. Fox denied both, and commented that as she made a career using parody, so does Family Guy.
A judge took the side of Fox and dismissed the case, citing the First Amendment and the right to parody. A win for both the right to parody and animation.