On Family Guy’s recent episode, teenager Chris dates a girl named Ellen, who has Down syndrome. During their conversation over dinner, Ellen tells Chris that her mother is "the former governor of Alaska". This was a throwaway joke that they just put out there and just moved on from. It wasn’t making fun of Palin’s child, but ofcourse Palin had to run with it to get herself on all the Entertainment shows. Palin said that it was the work of "cruel, cold hearted people" and her daughter called the writers "heartless jerks".
Palin and her daughter are not the ones with Down Syndrome, Trig and Andrea Fay Friedman are. Andrea did the voiceover for the role of Ellen and she has released a statement supporting the show, called the episode funny and said that she never mentioned Trig or made fun of Down Syndrome. Ms. Friedman states that her parents brought her up to have a sense of humour, live a normal life and that she is proud to play someone with Down Syndrome, she is not embarrassed. Hopefully Trig will have the same opportunities as everyone else regardless of his disability, like going on a date or being an actor. Sounds a lot better than being toted around like a loaf of bread!
