Actress Andrea Fay Friedman, 40, was the voice behind the character on Family Guy’s Valentine’s Day episode that become the object of Sarah Palin’s ire. Friedman, an actress with Down Syndrome, (I remember her as Corky’s love interest in Life Goes On and she’s been on TV shows like Saving Grace, Law and Order SVU, and ER) played a character with Downs that described herself as the daughter of “the former governor of Alaska.” That’s the only line that could have been construed as a reference to Palin, and by many accounts the character was pretty typical for an episode of Family Guy. Of course Palin, who has a one year-old son with Downs, was all over that with an indignant response that was likely tempered by the fact that she’s employed by Fox News, a sister channel to the Fox Network that airs Family Guy. Palin quoted her 19 year-old daughter, Bristol, who wrote stuff like “People with special needs face challenges that many of us will never confront… so why would anyone want to make their lives more difficult by mocking them?” According to Friedman, it’s all in good fun though and the Palins need to lighten up.
Friedman wrote an e-mail to news outlets that was only partially published in The NY Times, as Gawker points out. In the full e-mail, she mocks Palin for using her son Trig as a prop to garner sympathy and votes.
The father of the actress who provided the voice for the character of the young woman on the episode of Family Guy, which Sarah Palin described as “a kick in the gut”, has sent this e-mail to a friend of palingates:
Below is a copy of a letter to the editor that Andrea has written and sent. Please feel free to circulate it on the web or in any other manner that you choose.
All best wishes,
Hal Friedman
My name is Andrea Fay Friedman. I was born with Down syndrome. I played the role of Ellen on the “Extra Large Medium” episode of Family Guy that was broadcast on Valentine’s day. Although they gave me red hair on the show, I am really a blonde. I also wore a red wig for my role in ” Smudge” but I was a blonde in “Life Goes On”. I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line “I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska” was very funny. I think the word is “sarcasm”.
In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life. My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes.
[From Palingates via Gawker]
That’s priceles! Meanwhile there’s an interview with Friedman in the NY Times that shows how witty she is. When asked “do you agree with what she and her daughter Bristol were saying, that the character and the jokes were insulting to people with Down syndrome?” she answered “It’s not really an insult. I was doing my role, I’m an actor. I’m entitled to say something. It was really funny. I was laughing at it. I had a nice time doing voiceover. It was my first time doing a voiceover, and I had fun.” Friedman clarified that “I was making fun of Sarah Palin, but not her son.” When she’s not acting, Friedman works at a law firm where she’s been employed for 20 years.
I’m not going to editorialize too much here as this is a sticky subject, but I’ll just say that I’m impressed. Oh and deaf Oscar winner Marlee Matlin said something similar when Family Guy made fun of her. She said “lighten up, people.”
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