US sitcom Family Guy isn’t known for pulling any punches, like The Simpsons and South Park before it, the show’s two-dimensional characters happily mock and ridicule just about everyone and everything. Now the Quahog-based comedy and its network, Fox, have been served with a federal lawsuit for such tomfoolery, by a publishing company claiming infringement on the rights of a song they own. The ditty in question is “When You Wish Upon a Star”, a number that the publishers consider was directly copied when the animation’s lead character Peter Griffin sang “I Need a Jew” in an episode entitled “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein.”

The publisher’s attorney Paul Fakler said: “If you listen to the structure of the lyrics, the song, the name of the episode and how [Peter's] singing out the window to the stars, there’s no question they were using the song,” while Fox have replied: “We have not yet seen the complaint and have no comment at this time.” The installment was screened on US televisions back in 2003 and defendants for the show include its creator Seth MacFarlane, the show’s composer Walter Murphy, Fuzzy Door Productions and the Cartoon Network.

[via the Hollywood Reporter]