A British TV channel aired a Robin Williams-themed episode of Family Guy Monday night that features a suicide attempt, just as news broke of the 63-year-old comedian’s apparent suicide, Yahoo UK reports.
In the “Viewer Mail #2” (season 10, episode 22), shown on BBC 3 Monday night, Peter Griffin is outraged by a roast of Robin Williams on TV that he thinks is too mean. After declaring, “I wish everyone was Robin Williams,” he gets struck by lightning and then wakes up from a coma with the power to turn everyone he touches into Robin Williams.
But he becomes overwhelmed by the number of Robin Williamses in the world and tries to kill himself by jumping off a cliff, landing on Mrs. Doubtfire. One of the next scenes shows Peter Griffin with his hands cut off, his way of finally trying to get rid of the superpower.
Twitter and Reddit users balked at the airing of the show on the same evening as Williams’ death was announced:
Anybody else's head a bit trippy that last nites family guy ep on bbc3 was were everybody Peter touched turned into Robin Williams?
— martin compston (@martin_compston) August 12, 2014
Was I the only one creeped out last night when bbc3 showed the Robin Williams family guy episode while his death was being announced??
— Aisling Hughes (@hughes_aisling) August 12, 2014
@RokoBelfast it was just a spooky coincidence!
— BBC Three (@bbcthree) August 12, 2014
But the BBC said the show’s airing had not been intentional. “It was scheduled more than two weeks ago so it is just an uncanny coincidence,” a BBC spokesperson told Yahoo UK.
The episode, which had aired on the channel more than once in the past, will not be shown for a second time on Friday as was initially planned.
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