Seth MacFarlane Has Some Regret Over Family Guy's JFK Pez Dispenser Scene

"Family Guy" is known for pushing the boundaries of good taste. While it borrows influences from shows like "The Simpsons," it definitely goes a little harder than its predecessors would likely feel comfortable with. This can be seen in everything from one-off jokes, like Chris and Meg playing seven minutes in heaven with one another, to full-blown recurring characters, like Herbert the pervert. 

It's all in the name of humor, so none of it should be taken too seriously, but it's understandable if a joke comes along once in a while that makes you cringe or wince. Heck, it even happened to the show's creator Seth MacFarlane. Sometimes, hindsight is 20/20, and it requires some distance to realize perhaps a joke went too far. Apparently, that's what MacFarlane realized, as evidenced during one Reddit AMA when he was asked about any scenes he regretted making. One stood out in his mind. 

One Redditor asked Seth MacFarlane, "Are there any Family Guy scenes/episodes you regret making?" With nearly 1,000 upvotes, MacFarlane's response was, "I ah... I could do without the JFK Pez dispenser scene." You can likely surmise what the scene in question entailed, but in case you need a refresher, the joke involves a kid coming out of a store with a John F. Kennedy Pez dispenser, which is promptly hit in the head by a stray bullet. The kid is then quick to pull out his Bobby Kennedy Pez dispenser.

John F. Kennedy was famously assassinated by a bullet to the head, and Bobby Kennedy was also assassinated in a similar manner, with a bullet hitting his ear and fragmenting. It's easy to see how the joke would come across as distasteful, but while MacFarlane would probably do things differently today, quite a few fans don't see eye to eye. 

The Reddit thread contains numerous comments from viewers who still get a kick out of the dark joke, such as u/PJ7, who wrote, "I'm dying with laughter right now, I feel like my upstairs neighbours will be calling the police soon enough." Surprisingly, that wasn't the only JFK assassination joke "Family Guy" has gotten away with over the years. There's a cutaway joke where Mayor McCheese is shot in a similar fashion to Kennedy, which is arguably even harder to watch.