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Tiger`s a Single Man; Interview With Seth MacFarlane
Aired August 24, 2010 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DR. DREW PINSKY, GUEST HOST: Hello and welcome to THE JOY BEHAR SHOW. I`m not Joy. I`m Dr. Drew Pinsky sitting in for Joy. Joy, thank you for this opportunity.
We`re going to start out with Tiger Woods. He woke up today a single man, his divorce from wife Elin becoming final late yesterday. But while Elin`s freedom was celebrated in her native Sweden last night some tabloid reporters suggest there may be different plans for Tiger.
Joining me to discuss the mechanics of the drama are Mary Jo Eustace, author of "Divorce Sucks" -- her husband left her for Tori Spelling; CNN contributor and sports analyst Max Kellerman; and family law and divorce attorney Vikki Ziegler.
Max, first, I want to dispel something that was out there about Tiger. Max, you have something to say about this. But apparently TMZ reported that one of Tiger`s alleged mistresses may want him back and will do anything to get him back.
I have direct knowledge about that case. That is erroneous information. I know that this individual does not have a man in her life and is not interested in getting Tiger back, for the record.
MAX KELLERMAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Well, except that if Tiger`s ex- wife just came away with $100 million in spite of the fact that the pre-nup was what, like $20 million, $30 million.
VIKKI ZIEGLER, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: $10 million to $20 million for a ten-year term.
KELLERMAN: If I were that woman, might go after it.
PINSKY: You might go after her. So for Max to go after it, are you planning --
(CROSS TALKING)
ZIEGLER: Tighten the screw -- the pre-nup`s going to be tighter.
PINSKY: How does that work? You have a pre-nup and suddenly it`s disregarded and somebody walks away with five times the amount of money. How does that work?
ZIEGLER: I mean, Dr. Drew, basically it appears it was renegotiated. So there were sweeteners because apparently --
PINSKY: Along the way or because she might be saying something that would be --
ZIEGLER: Absolutely. I think there`s probably lifetime --
PINSKY: Hold on. Mary Jo -- we have Mary Jo Eustace on satellite. Mary Jo, you want to say something as well?
MARY JOE EUSTACE, AUTHOR, "DIVORCE SUCKS": Well, I think just looking at the situation from the outside and not even from the legal point of view, his behavior kind of really gave her the upper hand in the divorce because, you know, she`s young, she`s beautiful. They`ve only been married for a few years. They have two small children. He golfs a lot, among other things.
She has her whole life ahead of her. And her silence, I would imagine to Tiger, is worth a lot of money.
ZIEGLER: Yes, Mary Jo, you make -- you make a really good point. I think really what happened here is a lifetime confidentiality agreement was probably negotiated. For that Tiger thought it probably was a smart idea to give Elin much more than she was ever going to get in a court of law. They did it in a fast, expeditious manner, nine months to get divorced, one of the biggest celebrity divorce payouts ever in the athlete world.
I mean it happened very quickly. Certainly I don`t think we`re ever going to hear Elin Woods talking. And I think, Dr. Drew, that I believe probably it was a couple of million for every indiscretion that probably Tiger once had. Yes.
PINSKY: I have no doubt that people --
(CROSS TALKING)
ZIEGLER: And that`s what happened.
PINSKY: Of course, but Max you have a problem with that?
KELLERMAN: I have a question for you. We have you here. Dr. Drew.
It seems to me that the idea of sex addiction is directly proportional to the public perception of the attractiveness of the women with whom the guy is cheating.
PINSKY: No, no, no. That`s not true.
KELLERMAN: It seems that way.
PINSKY: But here`s the point I think you didn`t think about, though which is that -- listen, there can be no conversation or debate about whether Tiger Woods has sex addiction. He was admitted to a sex addiction program. You have to meet criteria for that in order to gain admission to an accredited program. He had it.
The issue though is, did he go back to golfing too soon? Should he be thinking about dating? My own opinion is he went back way too soon. I declared that when he went back to golf that this is not going to go well. And I think that`s why Elin left?
Do you think he went back to golf too soon?
EUSTACE: He went way back soon.
PINSKY: Hang on a second -- hang on.
I agree with you, Mary Jo. But let`s hear from Max.
KELLERMAN: From a golfing point of view, it appears that he did.
PINSKY: Right. He`s either a live man or a dead man. He`s not active in his treatment for sex addiction nor is he really golfing the way he should.
KELLERMAN: This is the worst he`s ever golfed in his pro career.
(CROSS TALKING)
PINSKY: Do you guys there in the sports scene have a hypothesis?
KELLERMAN: Well, it seems that he`s distracted and understandably so. And by the way, there`s a ticking clock on Tiger just from a purely sports point of view. Because I believe there`s a Tiger Woods effect. In other words, once upon a time golfers were paunchy middle aged men. To a large extent they still are.
But because of Tiger Woods, a lot of fathers put golf clubs in their athletic son`s hands from a very early age.
PINSKY: Do you think this has changed all that?
KELLERMAN: I think -- no, I don`t.
EUSTACE: It completely changed all that.
PINSKY: Mary Jo, how?
EUSTACE: I think it has.
PINSKY: How is that?
EUSTACE: I think it has. Just as an observer -- I`m actually from a golfing family. We were obsessed with Tiger Woods. But you know, things that we didn`t notice about him before or maybe you did as a sports writer. And by the way, I ran into some sports writers at a writers` conference a year ago and they said in the sports world people knew about his behavior. That it was common knowledge that he was engaging in this type of behavior.
PINSKY: Even though it was common knowledge, Mary Jo, was it difficult for her to walk away do you think? Even though it seemed a bit something matter of fact. It was still tough to walk away, was it not?
EUSTACE: I would imagine. She was young and in love and they married and they had two beautiful children. She probably thought she had this wonderful life. Then these indiscretions came out one after another.
The humiliation and the psychological damage for her to go through this would be horrendous. The payout is fantastic and she can get on with her life and lead a meaningful productive life and get an education --
(CROSS TALKING)
PINSKY: Hang on a second, Mary Jo. Vikki is shaking her head and smirking.
ZIEGLER: Yes, yes. I mean, from a legal perspective, yes. But from an emotional perspective, everyone was kind of speculating did Elin Woods know that she was going to live the life of Riley but on the side Tiger Woods would be cheating on her? That`s a question that everyone was asking.
And I think, you know, from a financial standpoint, that`s great. She`s one of the richest women right now that anyone could ever ask for, but how is her emotional state?
PINSKY: Right.
ZIEGLER: And you know, You talk about Tiger going to rehab for two months pouring his heart out to her, telling her things perhaps that nobody else wants to hear and then kind of going back to the golfing world so quickly. So I think there`s this cathartic journey that people have to take, to take a step back and say, wait a second. Do you really want to work on the marriage? Or do you want to just give up?
KELLERMAN: All that stuff --
PINSKY: Hang on a second, Mary Jo.
KELLERMAN: But that really is conjecture. Maybe he went back too fast, maybe it helped focus him.
PINSKY: Or maybe he was already gone.
KELLERMAN: From a purely sports point of view, he`s golfing much worse than he used to. My point originally that I was making is that, he only has maybe another five years until all those little kids who started golfing because he turned pro are now excellent golfers competing with him and his level of dominance declines anyway.
So if he continues to golf poorly for another three or four or five years, his kind of window of opportunity to be the most dominant golfer of all time I think is gone.
PINSKY: Is there a point where he should tap out and say, I`m not making it. I should go on and teach or do something else?
ZIEGLER: I know what -- be a poster person for sex addiction and teach people and be a role model.
PINSKY: I don`t think he`s going that direction.
(CROSS TALKING)
EUSTACE: I can`t see him doing that.
PINSKY: Mary Jo, hold on a second, please. Vikki, why do some women stay and others leave. You must have a lot o experience with this.
ZIEGLER: I do. And I think it`s a personality thing. Really it`s about how you were raised. Do you think that you are a co-dependent or dependent on a man?
PINSKY: Wait a minute. Some women will stay and participate. In fact, most partners of sex addicts stay in the marriage. They actually stay and hang out and participate in the treatment. But we see today Sandra Bullock takes off right away, Elin now leaving. Is it the money that makes them leave? Is it money that makes them stay? Is it the children or many more complicated issues?
ZIEGLER: I think it`s a combination. I think you can`t just point to one emotion. You can`t just say it`s the children. It`s the way you were raised. It`s people in Sweden. Females are strong and that`s what`s being reported that she`s a strong woman.
PINSKY: Let me, let me -- I got to read -- yes, I have to read to you what they said in Sweden. There`s a great quote here. Hang on. Here we are.
ZIEGLER: I think they`re in "The Street", by the way.
PINSKY: Yes. Swedish newspaper, "Swedish women like Elin are brought up to be independent and strong. That`s why she left."
ZIEGLER: No, sir.
PINSKY: That may or may not be true but --
EUSTACE: But Dr. Drew.
PINSKY: Yes, Mary Jo.
EUSTACE: Dr. Drew, can I ask you a question? When did this incident with Tiger happen? It happened in November with the car crash. Now we`re into August and they`re divorced. She couldn`t possibly emotionally process everything that happened to her. This just sounds like total survival to get out of the marriage and get her life back. But won`t it take years and years for her to get over this type of public betrayal?
PINSKY: Oh, for sure. Absolutely.
KELLERMAN: The reason I think -- it`s not just women leaving marriages where the husband is a sex addict, vice versa. I think the entire baby boomer generation -- I`ve recently overheard --
PINSKY: This I want to hear. The entire generation, ladies and gentlemen -- hold on to your hats.
KELLERMAN: It`s essentially the explosion in divorce in the last generation and a half.
PINSKY: Yes.
KELLERMAN: Has to do essentially with an unwillingness to work out the unpleasantries of marriage.
PINSKY: Yes.
KELLERMAN: And a really selfish inclination to want to be happy. Which I think is fine if you don`t have kids, but once you have kids, who`s perfectly happy in a marriage?
PINSKY: You`re absolutely right. Hang on a second. Vikki, I`ll ask you this question.
I had a child -- a friend of mine`s child say to her, she talked about her own divorce. She said, "I`m not happy." And the child piped up, a 9- year-old said, "Whose happiness is more important yours or mine? Because I`m miserable since you guys are apart."
KELLERMAN: Damn straight. That 9-year-old made a good point.
ZIEGLER: Happiness is very important but it`s also about being a role model in a relationship. If two parents can`t even get along and they`re fighting and they`re being disrespectful to one another --
PINSKY: Yes, but you get help with that. I`ve seen those things solved all the time.
ZIEGLER: But they both have to -- but they both have to want to go to an expert to get help, somebody like you.
PINSKY: Right.
ZIEGLER: If you`re both not in it to make it work by an expert --
KELLERMAN: And if it`s easy to get a divorce, then you`re less likely to want to work it out.
PINSKY: If Elin and Tiger came to you, what would you advise them?
ZIEGLER: I`m sorry?
PINSKY: If Elin and Tiger came to you, how would you advise them?
ZIEGLER: I certainly would have sent them to a therapist immediately.
PINSKY: You wouldn`t say let`s get this under way. This is irretrievable. You would send them for help.
ZIEGLER: It`s never irretrievable. There`s always hope. There`s always a way out in the sense that you can make changes to a marriage and bring two people together. But you both have to want to do it together. You have to be on the same page.
ZIEGLER: So Max, I think the biggest thing is golf is the problem here. Golf is the --
KELLERMAN: One thing that`s usually not there --
ZIEGLER: It wasn`t Elin Woods` looks. I`ll tell you that.
KELLERMAN: It`s the entire generation that I`m casting aspersions upon. But the reality is that there are exceptions. In the minority of cases, it really is irreconcilable. Right? I mean what can you do?
PINSKY: Of course.
KELLERMAN: And given Tiger`s status and their --
PINSKY: Hang on Mary Jo. Hold on.
KELLERMAN: And the public humiliation of Elin and the way everything happened. Maybe this really is a case where the sooner they get out of this marriage and get on with their lives, the better. I mean -- you know.
PINSKY: The bottom line is, it`s profoundly sad for everybody. It`s sad for Tiger, it`s sad for Elin, it`s sad for these kids. Mary Jo, last words.
EUSTACE: I just -- how could you possibly advise her to stay in that marriage? I mean just publicly humiliated, horrible betrayal. I mean at certain point and time you`ve got to say -- you`ve got to move on and cut your losses. Then it happens --
PINSKY: Well, you`re -- you`re right and I think Sandra Bullock would agree with you. But I must tell you that I`ve seen couples that do get through this and lead a happy life because the fact of the matter is -- humans have a tendency to repeat things in their relationship over and over again unless you get a lot of treatment.
And I hope and they`re the likes of Sandra Bullock out there getting care for herself so she doesn`t make this mistake again.
Thank you guys, thank you to my panel. We`ll be right back in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up a little later on the JOY BEHAR SHOW cartoon comedy king Seth MacFarlane gives his take on the Ground Zero mosque controversy and shares some "Family Guy" secrets.
Now back to the show.
PINSKY: On screen, actor Jeremy London is best known for his roles in family-friendly shows like "Party of Five" and "Seventh Heaven". But off screen he struggled with tough stuff like substance abuse, addiction. He also joined me on season four of VH1`s "Celebrity Rehab" and he joins me here now.
Jeremy, how are you doing, my friend?
JEREMY LONDON, ACTOR: Well, I`m doing great. I`m doing really well.
PINSKY: So since treatment, what`s been happening? Share that with the audience here.
LONDON: Well, a lot of great things really. I`ve been staying out in Malibu, just getting my -- getting my life in order and doing everything that I can to solidify my role as a father, which I am very, very proud of. And -- and just getting my career going back again.
PINSKY: And -- and Jeremy, at the end of "Celebrity Rehab" we had this little graduation ceremony. And I hope you remember. You made a little testimonial at the end that really touched me.
Can you kind of share your thoughts with the audience now what that was like and what you were talking about? Remember that?
LONDON: Yes, I do, I do. I think you know, I think one of the things that I expressed was the fact that going into the "Celebrity Rehab" thing, I was sober, so I wasn`t real sure exactly why I was going there. And I had gone through all this severe trauma, and -- and I wasn`t sure how it was going to help. I didn`t know if it could help.
And the beautiful thing about it was that it actually -- it did help. It changed my life extensively and put me back in a good frame of mind and on the right path. And it almost was like -- it was -- it was almost like a spiritual experience for me. It was something that I needed to have happen.
And I wasn`t sure how it was going to work. I didn`t know if you could help me. And it wound up helping me more than I could have ever realized. I knew that I needed help with the stuff that had happened to me --
PINSKY: Yes.
LONDON: -- psychologically, but I didn`t know how much on the precipice I was to maybe relapsing.
PINSKY: Right. That`s exactly -- I think what you expressed was how moved you were by the people you were in treatment with and how you had really now embraced something that we call sobriety.
In one of the things we find when we treat people in "Celebrity Rehab", is they end up kind of wanting to be an inspiration to other people. Have you had that sense, too, that you want to share your experience with people?
LONDON: Absolutely.
PINSKY: Yes.
LONDON: I mean, I think, you know, with -- especially with how common prescription drug use and abuse is.
PINSKY: Yes.
A lot of your peers were dealing with that like crazy. I mean, this show will air in October --
LONDON: Yes.
PINSKY: -- but Jeremy`s peers, there are several people on treatment who are dealing with prescription drugs. And you too, you had a history with that.
LONDON: Exactly yes, it started off innocently enough; started off as injuries, doctors prescribing them to me. And as -- as life got painful, I realized that they were -- they tended to work for emotional pain as well as physical pain. And began to dominate my life and I think that it`s happening more and more in especially the United States. I`m not sure about around the world, but in the United States it`s becoming an absolute travesty.
And -- and the good thing is to know -- of what I like about the show is that it shows people that there is healing in rehab. And you can get your life back in order. And people have to just sort of literally surrender everything that they believe and just become --
PINSKY: Part of the process.
LONDON: -- willing to get better.
PINSKY: Yes willing, you`re exact --
LONDON: Yes, you`ve got to be willing to get better.
PINSKY: Thank you, I think you may have just helped people today just by saying that. Because that`s what we look for is willingness and surrender. Those are the two things.
Now, you went through an extraordinary experience. I know this is something that has been sort of talked about in the public press quite a bit. Do you want to set the record straight what happened to you out there in the desert that day?
LONDON: Absolutely, well I had a flat tire and -- and some guys helped me fix my flat tire. And they -- to sort of put it all in a nutshell, they wound up robbing me and -- and kidnapping me for about 12 hours and put me through a really awful ordeal.
PINSKY: And I can tell you that when he arrived in treatment, we had several psychiatrists look at him. And he met criteria for true post- traumatic stress disorder. You were out of it, my friend. It had really affected me --
LONDON: I was -- I was more ill from the trauma from that than I was in my illness doing drugs.
PINSKY: Now --
LONDON: It affected me so deeply.
PINSKY: Yes, no, I`m very aware of it, my friend. He`s a little (INAUDIBLE) -- I mean, just to see you is such a relief now. You look so much better than we first saw you. People will see that.
Something that`s been out in the press today about you and our buddy Rachel Uchitel -- you want to set that record straight?
LONDON: Man, are people just bored or what? I mean --
PINSKY: I think that`s what it is.
LONDON: Look, hey, Rachel is a beautiful person. I love Rachel. But I`m sorry to break it to people. We`re not having an affair. We are just friends. We are very, very good friends. I`m very protective of Rachel. I care about her dearly.
And I -- because of what the press has done to me over this traumatic experience that I went through and the lying and the creating false truths and stuff like that, you know, I feel bad for her, because I know her now.
PINSKY: Yes, it`s hard to watch, it really --
LONDON: And -- it`s very hard to watch because she`s a human being with human feelings. She`s a really, really intelligent, good person.
PINSKY: People will get to know her. I think she will have the last laugh when things are done. Really quick before I wrap up here, Jeremy. Do you have any opinion about Lindsay Lohan getting out of treatment? People always want to ask people who have been in treatment what they feel about her situation. Do you have any thoughts about that?
LONDON: You know, it seems to me like the people that are -- are -- are in charge of taking care of Lindsay are just teaching her again and again that she can -- she can do whatever she wants, that she`s not going to really have a big price to pay and that, you know, that she can continue to do this stuff like she was doing. It seems to me to be a very irresponsible thing on the part of the court systems and her representatives.
PINSKY: Sit tight there, Jeremy.
LONDON: To tell you the truth, I feel bad for her.
PINSKY: We`re actually going to pick up with that in just a second. Sit tight. We`ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PINSKY: And we are back with Jeremy London. Jeremy, you were saying that you felt bad for Lindsay Lohan. Pick up right there. Feel bad because --
LONDON: I feel bad because I feel like the people that are supposed to be looking out for her best interests aren`t.
PINSKY: Let me ask you, I imagine anybody who has celebrity status has people around them, an entourage, that really aren`t willing to risk losing their access to you if it means confronting you about something that could make you enraged. Have you ever experienced that?
LONDON: I personally? Have had -- I guess, the fortune enough to have people around me that, when they saw that I was getting sick --
PINSKY: They came after you.
LONDON: Really were very vocal about it. And so that to me is what family and friends should be.
PINSKY: You`ve lately though you have a little trouble with your own family, that`s accurate, yes?
(CROSS TALKING)
LONDON: Yes. My brother -- yes, well, no, remember this thing happened to me, without knowing what the truth is, without knowing any of the facts, my brother and mother went on national television and just lied and made up their own version of what happened to me without knowing anything about what did happen to me.
I think that has started a whole tumultuous thing with the press. Now they believe what they said instead of actually what happened.
PINSKY: Do you think that living a public life adds to the pressures that sometimes lead to addiction, let`s say? Go ahead.
LONDON: Sorry. There`s absolutely no doubt that the pressure of being a celebrity or whatever contributes to it. Sort of artist in general seem to be really sensitive people and it tends to kind of go hand in hand with musicians and artists and actors and stuff like that. But a lot it has to do with the highs being so high whenever you`re on your A-game and doing well and you`re on a popular show or whatever, and people treat you like royalty. And then when that all goes away, it`s depressing. And a lot of people don`t know how to handle that.
PINSKY: So would it be accurate to say that when people talk about the pressure of the limelight, is it more the pressure of losing it, the fear that it`s going to go away? Is that the pressure?
LONDON: It absolutely is. The funny thing about that is that a lot of people whenever they`re in like the height of their fame and stuff like that, they don`t want to be bothered by people and they don`t want to be signing autographs and paparazzi. But the worst part of that whole thing is when it all goes away. Then people start --
PINSKY: That`s when they want it back again.
LONDON: They want it back again. Yes. You can complain about it all you want, but if it goes away --
PINSKY: That doesn`t feel so good. George Michael is the guy that recently was apparently found to have crashed his car into a London shop in June. He was admitted to -- he admitted to being high at the time. He has a long history of drug problem. Yet we seem to keep forgiving him. Are there some people, for a celebrity, that we forgive endlessly?
LONDON: Unfortunately, it is true. I would say maybe Robert Downey Jr. is one of the cases, but luckily he`s turned his life around.
PINSKY: Thank goodness we kept our faith in him. We like stories of success, too.
LONDON: Absolutely. And I think that as much as our society really likes to see people fail and fall from grace, they do tend to like to see the resurrection.
PINSKY: Yes.
LONDON: And I can only give society credit for the part of it. The rest of it is kind of getting medieval almost. It`s kind of getting just depressing.
PINSKY: Jeremy, you are so right. I really believe that what we`re seeing is people acting out their envy. And I believe it is medieval, it`s almost like sacrificing people.
Thank you so much Jeremy for joining us today. I really appreciate.
LONDON: Thanks for having me on, I appreciate it.
PINSKY: You take care.
Up next, the great Seth MacFarlane; he is the creator of "Family Guy".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PINSKY: Welcome back I`m Dr. Drew Pinsky sitting in for Joy. The anger and debate surrounding the planned Islamic center and mosque near ground zero in New York City has already garnered national attention with leaders and prominent figures from both sides weighing in. Well today we can add one more great voice to that debate. None other than the Emmy award winning creator of "FAMILY GUY", the CLEVELAND SHOW and AMERICAN DAD Seth MacFarlane. Seth, welcome and thank you.
SETH MACFARLANE, CREATOR, "FAMILY GUY": My pleasure. My pleasure, Drew.
PINSKY: Thank you because, Seth, I believe I`m sitting in this seat - - let me tell you why. Because I believe there are so many rabid Seth MacFarlane "FAMILY GUY" fans here as a part of this "Headline News" family, that they knew that we kind of knew each other. So when the off chance that I might get you into that seat I was asked to sit in this seat. I thank you for that.
MACFARLANE: Wow oh my God.
PINSKY: Thus I`m sitting - yes, thus, I`m sitting here for Joy. But because of that there were people from far and wide wanting to ask you questions and I am the conduit. So we`re going to start with the ground zero mosque issue.
MACFARLANE: You got it.
PINSKY: We are going to start with a tweet that you recently put out. It says, I support the ride of the Jedi to build a temple, but does it have to be two blocks from the ruins of the death star?
MACFARLANE: Yes.
PINSKY: Really now, Seth. For or against the Jedi, which is it?
MACFARLANE: Well, that`s a joke tweet. It actually doesn`t necessarily reflect --
PINSKY: So you weren`t serious about the Jedi.
MACFARLANE: My actual - no, no, no."
PINSKY: Oh OK.
MACFARLANE: My actual, no "Star Wars" is fictional universe. And you know I don`t think there`s any danger of Jedi building a temple in the middle of New York City. But, you know, my take on that is, you know, they kind of have it wrong. The protesters kind of have it wrong. I mean it seems as though the -- let`s take the religion out of it. I mean my personal views on religion that are it tends to be nothing but trouble. But leaving that out for the moment, if we look at it as the ultimate expression of the resilience of American ethics, then that`s exactly the kind of thing that they should be doing. I mean, if they built an Islamic center on ground zero, I mean, what would that say about, again, the resilience of American belief in all inclusiveness? I would say something very noble, I think. So its -- I don`t see -- I don`t see where all the negativity is coming from. I don`t think it`s coming from an intelligent place. And you know, I think that it`s -- I think that it`s people probably angry about --
PINSKY: A lot of things.
MACFARLANE: Deeper issue, yes, more complex issues. This is a simple thing to focus them.
PINSKY: I think you know large populations have a tendency to oversimplify things. But wouldn`t -- if I get your opinion, sort of, your point of view, it`s more that extremism is the issue and you can find extreme is on many fronts. Is that kind of what you`re saying?
MACFARLANE: Well yes. I mean as you know, look, the most -- who was it that said that the most faithful people on those planes were the ones who believed the most in their religion were the hijackers which does not speak well of the institution as a whole. But again, taking that out of the picture, it does seem that -- in a way to protest something like this plays right into the hands of the, you know, hatred --
PINSKY: The critics, yes.
MACFARLANE: Yes. That I think we`re trying to avoid. I think it`s - - it`s distressing to watch.
PINSKY: Yes, it`s a complicated issue, no doubt. Let me switch gears and talk about Arizona. See if you have any opinions about that. The Arizona GOP primary happened today. And you once compared Arizona`s immigration policy to Nazi Germany saying nobody but the Nazis ever ask anybody for their papers.
MACFARLANE: Yes. The -- which technically is not true, but I`ll begin by saying that that was -- the sentiment is honest. That was a day in which I was absolutely exhausted from doing press. So I didn`t express the thought in the most artful, elegant way, but the thought is genuine. You know it`s interesting, after making that comment, you know I had some critical remarks from the anti-defamation league, which I thought was a little - a little odd because when we say the Nazis, we`re not just talking about the second World War. We`re talking about also that period prior to the outbreak of the second World War in which certain rights were systematically stripped from the Jewish people. The right to own businesses, the right to own property. And you know, the whole message of the anti-defamation league is let`s make sure this never happens again. Let`s make sure that we catch this early. When these signs present themselves early on, that we take notice. And that`s exactly what I was pointing out. And it was strange and I think a little ill thought out of them to have -- take issue with that. Because that`s exactly what they should be defending.
PINSKY: Well let me move on to something that`s sort of is a corollary to this, which is your right to speak out about whatever you want to talk about. And you`ve called yourself an equal opportunity offender, you`ve said. And I know "FAMILY GUY" really goes -- you go wherever you got to go, right? There`s sort of almost no line you won`t cross or at least attempt to cross. And let me just say Dr. Laura got herself in a little bit of trouble using a word of hate a multiple times on her radio show.
MACFARLANE: Yes.
PINSKY: Saying that she`s left to reclaim her first amendment rights. Is this really about amendments? And have you had your own controversies in this regard?
MACFARLANE: It`s -- we -- not -- I mean -- I don`t think it`s a first amendment -- I think it`s a judgment call. And this is a tough one to talk about in sound bites. I actually on the way over here had a long conversation about this with a black friend of mine in preparation for this. You know let me just tell you what I`m thinking and what do you think this is -- what do you think of this? And he expressed in a way the opinion that George Carlin used to express. Which is it`s not the word itself, it`s the racist bastard that`s using it.
PINSKY: Right.
MACFARLANE: And you know, one thing that he said to me was, look, you do have to kind of take into context the history of the person who is using the word. If it`s a history professor using the word in reference in an academic setting when talking about, you know, like the history of racism, probably not the best idea to use it out right in this current -- in today`s climate, but it`s still a little different than somebody like Dr. Laura who`s -- who hasn`t really earned the right at all to use that word by a long stretch.
PINSKY: I think -- you know that`s what I was thinking about. You have to kind of earn a right to that. Somebody has to grant you the right to use it, too, or else it just becomes awful.
MACFARLANE: If you are somebody who - if you are a white man and your best friend is a black man and the two of you have agreed between yourselves, you know what, it`s OK for you to use that word when you`re around me because we`re very close, then that`s their business.
PINSKY: Yes.
MACFARLANE: So in that sense, the argument that it`s never OK isn`t technically accurate, however, in this context, I think that, you know, you had a woman calling -- you know, with a very reasonable question. Is this racist? My husband doesn`t defend me. I -- and before she could even get two words out, Dr. Laura said, I don`t think that`s racist. I don`t think that`s racist. You don`t have enough information to make that call because you just steamrolled over this woman.
PINSKY: Let me speak of steamrolling, let me just quickly get to one more quick topic, Seth. And that is the issue of gay marriage. And I know in ""FAMILY GUY"," you guys have taken a position on that. And that`s a group that`s taken a ton of punch lately. And by the way, I think the whole prop 8 thing is more an indictment of the referendum system in California than anything else. Which is just a travesty.
MACFARLANE: Yes.
PINSKY: It is everything the founding fathers feared.
MACFARLANE: Absolutely.
PINSKY: But it ended up with a minority having its rights taken away from it. Regardless of what you feel about gay marriage. You tackled it in "THE "FAMILY GUY"." Were you surprised at the vitriol it created?
MACFARLANE: No, no, we expect there would have to be a backlash. You know which is kind of what - I mean that`s par for the course of ""FAMILY GUY"." But prop 8 is -- it`s nothing short of an absolute embarrassment. It`s an absolute embarrassment to the state. It`s an embarrassment to the country. It`s 2010. I kind of feel like this is not an issue of how many people think this and how many people think that. It`s not an issue of the majority still feel -- which I don`t think is necessarily true -- the majority of people still feel this is problematic. It doesn`t matter. These people should not have to wait for that group to catch up with the rest of us. I mean if -- look at all the racism that still exists in this country. We don`t really let those people hold the rest of us back.
PINSKY: And regardless of what you feel -
MACFARLANE: Because that would be wrong.
PINSKY: Regardless of what you feel the California Supreme Court had a conservative opinion that the argument used against it was the arguments used for the horrible things in our past such as slavery. You have to listen to some of these arguments. Seems to me, and then the referendum system just eviscerated the power of the court. And obviously I`m building to one quick question before we go to break. And that is, is Stewy gay?
(LAUGHTER)
MACFARLANE: I`m still working on it. You know both sides have compelling arguments.
PINSKY: Are you going to tell me? We`re going to come back. Actually hold that thought, Seth. We just started with you. We are going to find out more about Stewy and his sexual orientation. And we`ll be back with more Seth MacFarlane in just a minute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was my understanding that everyone had heard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heard what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here, let`s take a look.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s the best day of my life!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what? You`re just jealous because I found a real woman.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PINSKY: Oh, my gosh. We`re back with one of TV`s funniest people, the Emmy award winning creator "FAMILY GUY" Seth MacFarlane. So Seth, are we going to pick up where we left off there? Stewy, you got an opinion about your sexual orientation? Wouldn`t it be marvelous if you ended up --
MACFARLANE: I suppose if I was confronted with a man and a woman both making passes at me, I guess I would go with the one who had the bigger genitalia.
PINSKY: Thank you for that, Stewy. You know I`ve had the great pleasure of seeing you work. Seth gets involved in every aspect of his operation. He literally -- I look over the shoulder of animators correcting minuscule movements of the character, then going into comedy writing sessions. And I had the -- by the way, the greatest moment -- in my kids` point of view, I got to do a voice on your show. And he came in and did the direction for the voice-over, which you do for every single episode, right. And then writes the music and sings the songs and writes the lyric. Boy, quite a thing. I`m asking the question here right now that everyone wants to know about your production. For instance, how did you come up with the characters? I know each one was a little bit different. Give me the highlights. Peter was inspired by a janitor at your junior high school or something?
MACFARLANE: The character is every - you know, big fat loud mouth New England guy that I grew up with. And you know the voice itself came from a security guard where I went to college. And he had just this -- just this impossibly thick, loud, boisterous Rhode Island accent. And it just always made me laugh whenever he opened his mouth. There was no self-editing mechanism, but just the biggest hearted guy that you ever would want to meet. That`s the essence of Peter. He`s got a big heart.
PINSKY: Give me a taste of peter.
MACFARLANE: I`ve got a big heart, but I don`t hold nothing back. I speak what`s on my mind.
PINSKY: Grind your gears pretty easily, though.
MACFARLANE: A lot of stuff grinds my gears. Are you kidding? Forget it.
PINSKY: That Seth MacFarlane guy was talking, a lot of stuff on his mind. Kind of scared me a little bit.
MACFARLANE: He`s got a lot of problems. You know, as I said, he should just shut up is what he should do.
PINSKY: And then Chris, I know, Seth Green played a large role in coming up with that voice.
MACFARLANE: Yes. That was when we were casting the show, we had some of the drawings laid out for the voice actors to look at while they were auditioning. And the character of Chris looked the same as it does now. And everyone was coming in and looking at the drawing and doing a surfer guy voice. And it just wasn`t -- it was kind of hackie and just kind of clammy. And then it wasn`t fitting. And then Seth Green came in and did what he describes as an impression of Ted Levine from "Silence Of The Lambs," which was wholly original. So Chris is based on a serial killer, I guess.
PINSKY: Was it your idea to get Adam West involved in the characters?
MACFARLANE: Yes. I had worked with Adam West back when I was working at Hanna-Barbera. And he just always, always made all of us laugh. He was so good. And I worked with him on a show called "JOHNNY BRAVO." I said if I ever do my own show, I`ve got to get him involved in some way. Because he`s just a character.
PINSKY: Just who he is, is funny. Now, a lot of people may not know that on September 11th, 2001, you apparently barely missed getting on American Airlines flight 11, that`s the one that crashed into the World Trade Center. Did that experience change you at all?
MACFARLANE: You know probably disappointingly to some it did not. I`m not somebody who believes that everything happens for a reason. I think there are coincidences. I had missed a lot of flights before that for various reasons. I`m a chronically late person. And so I had missed a lot of flights. So it wasn`t wasn`t like this is the one flight I had missed. And you know I`m not somebody who believes in predetermined fate. You know, I think that this is just something that happened, and it happened to me. On every flight there are people who miss that flight. On this flight fortuitously, I happened to have missed the flight.
PINSKY: And that we`re all thankful to have benefited from that. But I must ask you, in school, what kind of person were you. Were you the class clown, were you a quiet guy? How would you describe yourself --
MACFARLANE: I kind of I think fancied myself the class clown, but I just didn`t have the balls at the time.
(LAUGHTER)
PINSKY: To actually be funny, or be the clown?
MACFARLANE: Yes. I was very -- I was too obsessed with you know -- I was too focused on what it was that I wanted to do and I would hole up in an almost hermit-like fashion trying to make animated films. Trying to figure out how these drawings moved on television.
PINSKY: Studying music, too, right.
MACFARLANE: And reclusive.
PINSKY: And studied music.
MACFARLANE: Yes, studied music and piano and did a lot of musical theater which has been a huge help working on ""FAMILY GUY"."
PINSKY: Let me ask you this, are there any skits or bits that you`ve done on "FAMILY GUY" that you regret?
MACFARLANE: You know, we made a joke about Matt Damon that I think was a little over the line. Somebody about him marrying a bartender, and it was uncalled for and I think Matt Damon`s a great guy. And I admire him on many levels. That`s one I kind of wish we hadn`t done.
PINSKY: We`re going to come back in just a minute. We are going to talk about the David Hasselhoff roast, which I enjoyed immensely, by the way. And why don`t Craig mare take us out. We`re back with Seth MacFarlane.
MACFARLANE: We`ll be back with more giggetty-goo.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: David your acting is like "Inception." There`s no sense of reality. It`s impossible to follow what`s happening. And midway through, we realized that you were unconscious the whole time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PINSKY: That is my guest Seth MacFarlane he was the roast master at the recent Comedy Central roast of David Hasselhoff. That was fun, wasn`t it?
MACFARLANE: That was a good time. That was a lot of fun. There was a bar on stage. How could it not be fun?
PINSKY: And Hasselhoff really, I cringe all of a sudden. I worry about David. But you know, he -- I talked to Lisa Lampanelli after that. She said he really garnered quite a bit of cred for sitting there taking those punches that you guys threw at him.
MACFARLANE: Oh, yes. He seemed to be having a ball with it. But you know, there is the fact, too, that he got up there and grabbed the mike and started singing, and he kind of made it his show. So I think that`s -- beyond the fact that it was a roast of David Hasselhoff. But I think he`s got reason to feel good about that night.
PINSKY: One of the -- you know, there are a couple of questions that -- the viewers were very excited about having you on here today. Questions flying around the office.
MACFARLANE: They need to raise the bar a little bit.
PINSKY: Raise their standards, huh? I told them, Seth. But one of the things that came up was the issue of "SOUTH PARK" taking aim at ""FAMILY GUY"." And I said you were very good natured about that and thought that was a funny episode they did. Still feel that way?
MACFARLANE: Oh, yes, yes. That`s -- my view on that is I haven`t always had a whole lot of respect for the way they`ve conducted themselves in the press when representing - you know when representing themselves, but the show is hilarious. And I think the stuff that they were poking, you know, taking aim at was pretty accurate. So I thought it was hilarious. I thought it was really funny.
PINSKY: The other thing that came up in sort of office conversation was, so the baby`s talking and the humans don`t understand him, but they kind of understand the dog? How does that work?
MACFARLANE: well -- this is like a season one question.
PINSKY: Yes, it is. I couldn`t believe I heard it again. It came up today. Oh, my goodness, OK.
MACFARLANE: Everybody understands Brian. It`s like Kermit the frog in a Muppet Movie. You know it`s whoever he talks to, whether it`s Miss Piggy or Steve Martin, they`re going to understand what he`s saying. But Stewy, there are varying degrees of rules. Brian can understand him completely. Chris can understand him these days more or less completely. Because we figured Chris is simple minded enough that he can understand a baby. And Meg - you know Meg gets the gist of what he`s saying but just treats him like a baby. And the same goes for peter and Lois. And once it gets outside the family, it`s really whatever is funniest. There are no rules.
PINSKY: So I want to wrap up with your next project. I had the fortune of singing with you with a big band.
MACFARLANE: Yes.
PINSKY: At the University -
MACFARLANE: On the street where you live.
PINSKY: And you were so filled with joy. Such a pleasure to see you up there lit up like that. You have a new project coming up.
MACFARLANE: It does happen occasionally. Occasionally I do have the composite for joy.
PINSKY: It was true joy, I must tell you. It was joy. Is there a big band album coming up, is that what I`m hearing?
MACFARLANE: Yes, yes. Doing an album for Universal Republic Records with about a 60-piece orchestra. My friend Joel McNeil is working on the arrangements as we speak. Brilliant, brilliant composer. And we`re going to release a "Big Band" album. It`s going to be a blast.
PINSKY: It is really fun. I thank you, Seth. Thank you for joining me. Of course, you can catch "FAMILY GUY" Sundays nine o`clock on FOX. Seth, take care my friend.
MACFARLANE: Thanks, Drew.
PINSKY: Good night to the rest of you. I will see you here tomorrow.
END
