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Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy is notorious for taking digs at famous faces. The latest people in the cartoon's crosshairs were Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. The adult comedy TV show roasted the couple in a cutaway gag in its Sunday, October 22, episode. Family Guy, which follows the exploits of Peter Griffin and his family, is currently in its 22nd season.
Family Guy made fun of the exiled royals for receiving millions of dollars from Netflix for doing "no one knows what." This jab comes after a South Park episode from eight months ago, which poked fun at the couple for asking for privacy while, at the same time, drawing attention.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Family Guy.
Family Guy takes a dig at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
Sunday's episode of Family Guy was the third of its 22nd season. In the episode titled "A ‘Stache from the Past," the show's main character, Peter Griffin, and his family visit the flea market. Peter gets enamored with Dr. Hartman's Mr. Potato Head toy, but his wife Louis bars him from buying it as it is too expensive.
An upset Peter sees a commercial from Tom Sellick that sways him towards signing up for a reverse mortgage, enabling him to buy the toy but, instead, putting the family's house at risk. Peter vows to track down Sellick and get his money back, and he also asks Mayor Wild West to accompany him. Mayor Wild West initially declines, which prompts Peter to say:
"That's fine, I'll go it alone, just like Meghan Markle and Prince Harry."
Family Guy cuts away from Peter to reveal cartoon versions of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry sunbathing beside a pool. Their Buttler enters the scene holding out a bunch of envelopes. The Buttler tells cartoon Harry:
"Sir, your millions from Netflix for 'no one knows what.'"
Cartoon Harry tells the Buttler to put it with "the rest of them." Just then, cartoon Meghan Markle's phone rings. She informs cartoon Harry:
"Babe, time to do our daily $250,000 sponsored Instagram post for Del Taco."
Cartoon Harry regretfully remarks:
"I shouldn’t have left the made-up nonsense."
Netizens overwhelmingly agree with the Family Guy roast
Most netizens seemed to agree with the Family Guy parody of Meghan and Harry and even appreciated the humor. The only issue people had was that it wasn't as strong as the South Park roast. Some social media users even stated that the couple deserved it and did not understand why they received million-dollar deals while there were many talented people in the business looking for opportunities.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's rocky history in the entertainment industry
The Family Guy jab is aimed at the couple's growing infamy within the entertainment industry. Netflix and the duo signed a multi-year deal back in 2020. Up until now, it has resulted in three documentaries.
2022's Harry and Meghan offered an intimate glimpse into the couple's life and achieved the record for the biggest debut viewership of any Netflix documentary. However, it tanked on Rotten Tomatoes (RT) with a 45% average and 19% audience scores. Rachael Cunliffe of New Statesman described the documentary as an "exhausting endurance test."
The lesser-known Live to Lead came out the same year and featured interviews with famous global leaders and influencers. It did not feature a critic score on RT due to a lack of reviews but had an abysmal audience score of 16% from over 500 audience reviews.
The only positive reviews came for 2023's Heart of Invictus, which followed six people competing in the Prince Harry founded Invictus games. Albeit still maintaining a low IMDB score of 5.5, it received a solid 86% on RT, with a 78% audience score.
In June of this year, Spotify's global sports content head, Bill Simmons, blasted the couple after their multi-million dollar Spotify deal ended. They parted ways with the company, abruptly halting their 20 million dollar deal despite having initial success with the Archetypes podcast.
The couple's company, Archewell Audio, reportedly faced a multitude of struggles, including inconsistent team management and constant departures in leadership. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Prince Harry struggled to develop competitive ideas and turn them into shows. Bill Simmons said in his podcast:
"The F**king Grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them."
He also added:
I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories … F**k them."
United Talent Agency CEO Jeremy Zimmer called out Meghan Markle at the Cannes Lions advertising festival.
"Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent."
This episode of Family Guy is the second time this year that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were mocked in an animated adult cartoon.
In February, before the Family Guy episode came out, South Park roasted the couple in the episode "The Worldwide Privacy Tour." The couple was featured as Canadian royal exiles who carried placards demanding privacy but drew attention wherever they went.
