Acid attacks and ‘itty bitty’ girls: These American Dad moments make Family Guy look tame

Much like Family Guy, which is also created by Seth MacFarlane, American Dad is only as good as the controversy its jokes and arcs create. It is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary after 21 seasons, 381 episodes, and enough dark comedy to spark thousands of complaints, so there has never been a better moment to trudge through the years of questionable moments.

There are literally dozens of morally void instances to choose from, but I’m not suggesting that American Dad deserves to be pulled from every platform because of it. In fact, just the opposite. American Dad and shows like it don’t claim to be pinnacles of moral purity, and it’s kind of the point to push the boundaries of what people think is okay to see on screen.

With that in mind, here are American Dad’s 10 biggest moments that created heaps of controversy.

1. Principal Lewis’ proclivity for ‘girls’

Principal Lewis, the resident educator of the American Dad universe, boasts much of the dark humour content the show is known for. In one particularly gross moment, the high school principal said that he was into girls, not women, GIRLS. To really get the point across, he said he liked them being “itty bitty” things.

2. There was so much incest in American dad

You might think that one incest storyline is enough, but American Dad beat that dead horse repeatedly across multiple seasons. In Virtual In-Stanity, when Stan transferred his mind into the body of a teenage girl, his son Steve becomes enamoured with her.

Then, in the season five episode Pulling Double Booty, Stan’s body double Bill was caught making out with Hayley. Though this wasn’t strictly incest because it was Bill and not Stan, visibly they are the exact same person.

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Stan always had a let’s say *close* relationship with his mother, but Oedipal Panties took that to a whole new level as it was revealed that Stan had been kidnapping his mother’s lovers for years. Really doubling down on the theme, there was even a bizarre shared bath scene between Stan and his mum. Gross.

3. When Francine was the victim of an acid attack

In season seven episode 18, Stan horribly disfigured his wife after she began working at the CIA. Feeling threatened, he threw acid in her face and the big reveal served as the final shocking image in the episode. Considering how prevalent acid attacks against women are, I can see why this moment sparked so much pushback.

4. Roger and Klaus’ relationship was one of the stranger American Dad moments

I’m not saying that a relationship between an alien and a goldfish is the worst thing humanity has ever seen, but those ultra-graphic sex scenes are still imprinted in my mind.

5. Stan made himself blind when Francine let her appearance go

Certain episodes made it really difficult to like Stan as a main character. Sure, he was always a patriotic Republican with traditional masculine values, but episodes like Shallow Vows really hammered that home.

In this episode, when Francine realised Stan was only with her for her looks, she began to let herself go. But this didn’t have the desired effect as Stan literally removed his retinas so he didn’t have to look at her.

6. Let’s just try to forget the summer camp episode

The controversy of American Dad’s Camp Refoogee should not need explaining. After being sent to an African refugee camp, Steve tries to make the best of it and help people out. Unfortunately, his dad followed quickly behind with some of the most outright racist and insensitive jokes you’ve ever heard.

7. The whole American Dad paedophile arc sparked huge controversy

For some reason paedophile characters are a regular occurrence in adult animation media, and for American Dad that was Randy who was introduced in 42-year-old Virgin. Stan seemed completely oblivious to his son being kidnapped, even when seeing him in a unitard and covered in butter.

8. *That* horse moment

When the family bought a horse in season six, some clever camera angles and Roger’s joke that the animal needed ‘manual stimulation’ sparked over 100,000 complaints and a $25,000 fine from the FCC. Who knew the Parents Television Council, a pro-censorship group, wouldn’t take kindly to thinly veiled beastiality?

9. There was so much controversy surrounding Stan of Arabia

People from the Middle East are constantly forced to contend with damaging stereotypes, and when the Smiths moved to Saudi Arabia, American Dad employed just about every single one for comedic purposes.

10. Stan’s homophobic rampage

In Surro-Gate, right-wing Stan learned that his gay neighbours had adopted a child. Besides the obviously horrendous act of kidnapping the child from his “unnatural” family, there are some pretty outlandish homophobic jokes.

Featured image credit: American Dad

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