Fox has pulled an episode of "Family Guy" from its website, after an altered video of the cartoon depicted deaths at the Boston Marathon, Reuters reports.
The clip went viral online before Fox caught wind of the offensive video and took it down. It was posted one day after two explosions killed three and wounded 176 at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
Creator Seth MacFarlane tweeted Tuesday in response to the doctored clip.
"The edited Family Guy clip currently circulating is abhorrent. The event was a crime and a tragedy, and my thoughts are with the victims."
The episode, called "Turban Cowboy" first aired March 17. In it, two unrelated scenes were pasted together: one in which lead Peter Griffin drives, intoxicated, over runners to win the Boston Marathon, and another where Peter receives a cell phone from a radical terrorist-type character, whom Peter calls and explosions go off.
"I'll tell ya, Bob," Peter says when asked about his performance by sportscaster Bob Costas, "I just got in my car drove it. And when there was a guy in my way, I killed him."
The video's splicing job makes it look like the two scenes are one, to form a satirical clip of explosions at the Boston race.
Fox spokesperson Gaude Paez told The Guardian that the entire episode had been removed from both Fox.com and Hulu.com.
Paez also mentioned that Fox officials were still working with YouTube to take down all clips, including the edited one.
Networks often review television and movie material in the wake of national and international tragedies.
Network Channel 4's film side, Film4, recently removed their scheduled film Four Lions from a lineup after the bombings.
The movie is a comedy about a group of British Muslims bombing the London Marathon.
"Family Guy" has removed an episode once before-after the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings, so as not to air any potentially sensitive content.
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