"Family Guy" fought against political correctness and offensive jokes as much as Peter with an oversized chicken, even pushing the buttons of Oscar-winning actors. However, there was one episode in particular that landed the show in hotter water than usual when Russia stormed into the season 21 finale in two parts, starting with episode 19, "From Russia With Love," followed by "Education for adults. The story of the episodes was seen by Meg (Mila Kunis, who replaced the original voice of the character Lacey Chabert in season 2) cross the waters to Chelyabinsk, Russia and marry a computer hacker named Ivan. Pushing things to a close, the second part of the two-parter included one of the show's signature songs, "This Old Town," in which Meg danced around her new home in a Disney Belle-esque fashion. "Beauty and the Beast."

Government officials did not take kindly to Chelyabinsk being mocked like this, with Newsweek revealing in 2023 that an attempt had been made to ban Family Guy. Speaking to Russia Rising about the episode, Chelyabinsk regional deputy Yana Lantatova said: "The artist has the right to his vision, but this is a deliberately offensive artistic image that has nothing to do with reality." Specifically, Lantratova objected to the depiction of Chelyabinsk in the musical sequence, stating, “This is a deliberate act against our country. Information warfare through works of art. They deliberately create an image of Russia as a country where everyone is not satisfied with life, drinking, using drugs, taking bribes."

While it's easy to understand why Russia would be upset about "Family Guy" and the way it portrayed Chelyabinsk, they wouldn't be the first country to be mocked by Peter Griffin (Seth MacFarlane) and the rest of the Quahog locals. According to the show (which has now run for over 22 seasons), it's perfectly normal for a man to marry a boat in Australia. Meanwhile, in England, apparently no one has clean teeth and everyone is talking absolute nonsense. That being said, Family Guy went after Russia long before Meg's little song and even dared to poke fun at the country's current leader, Vladimir Putin.

So far, the Russian leader has appeared in four episodes of "Family Guy," including one in which Putin acts as "Raiders of the Lost Ark" villain Major Arnold Tocht. After all, the creator of the series, Seth MacFarlane, while recently admitted that he has one joke he regretsfeel that fans of the show are savvy enough to know that it's all in the name of good fun. "Audiences can feel the difference between virtue signaling on social media and actual offense," he said Los Angeles Times in April 2024. "If it's a real insult, you didn't get away with the comedy."