Family Guys has a long history with acclaimed actor James Woods. And there's no doubt that James' voice-over work on Seth McFarlane's hit Fox animated show is ranked among his most profitable roles. Of course, James has been a prolific actor in Hollywood for decades and has earned himself two Academy Award nominations. But even this wasn't enough to stop Hollywood from canceling him.
When Hollywood cancels a celebrity, that means almost every individual show and movie does the same. And that's precisely what happened with Seth McFarlane's Family Guy. While James was present in eight episodes of the show, as well as had the high school name after him, his time with the show came to an end in 2016. Here's why...
The Many Reasons Why Family Guy And Hollywood Had Enough With James Woods
Seth MacFarlane and the team at Family Guy were pretty smart by letting James Woods go in 2016. After all, it took two more years for the public to do the same. In 2018, everything changed for James Woods. He was booted off of Twitter for the first time (this happened again in 2020). But, more importantly, his high-profile agent quit representing him. Ultimately, this is because of a mixture of his vocal criticisms of cancel culture, some inappropriate and offensive comments, and his Republican views. Specifically, his desire to get former President Donald Trump reelected.
Around the same time, Blade Runner actor Sean Young credited James as the arbiter of her blacklisting.
"He actually was successful in destroying my studio career," Sean Young explained to The Hollywood Reporter. "I remember, I got hired by an agent and he grilled me for an hour about James Woods, and I was like, 'Oh, f***.' So I have to walk in every time now and explain why I'm not crazy? I don't see this guy having to explain anything, so what the f*** is your problem?"
On top of this, James took to Twitter to claim that he hadn't made his mind up on the Q-Anon conspiracy theory, seemingly giving it legitimacy.
Of course, none of this was entirely surprising as James Woods has made no secret of his positions over the years and has made some comments that have offended a lot of people.
All of this has led to the full blacklisting of James Woods in Hollywood and... on Family Guy. To be fair, James has not been silent on this issue, claiming that he stands behind his right to freedom of speech and his fear that private corporations and, more importantly, the government are overreaching when it comes to culling aspects of the 1st Amendment.
How Family Guy's Seth McFarlane Fired James Woods And Why
If you know anything about Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane it's that his belief system is the opposite of James Woods'. While this was something that Seth would've known when he hired him, all of James' public antics online and in-person eventually pushed Seth to make the choice to go separate ways.
James Wood's involvement with Family Guy stems back to the earliest days of the show thanks to his name being used for Quahog's high school. But James made his first appearance on the show in 2005's "Peter's Got Woods". In the Season Four episode, Peter Griffin and James become friends. In fact, Peter is so happy to be friends with James that he sings what has now become one of the most famous songs in all of Family Guy's history.
However, Peter eventually becomes so annoyed with James that he traps him, locks him in a wooden crate, and hides him in Area 51 ala Raiders of the Lost Ark. But this wasn't the last time we see or hear from James.
In fact, between 2005 and 2016, James was featured in eight episodes of Family Guy. This includes the episode where James steals Peter's identity, the Simpsons crossover episode, and the episode where he invites the main characters to his remote mansion and is subsequently murdered by newswoman Diane Simmons.
His final episode of Family Guy was in 2016 just prior to the election where he publically supported Donald Trump.
While Seth has never publicly commented on why he never hired James Woods since then, he did address the issue through his characters.
In season 17, after Adam West's real-life death, the characters on the show decide to honor the former Batman star by renaming James Woods High School as Adam West High School. When asked why, Brain says, "James Woods is an embarrassment to Quahog. He's a political troll and a maniac on Twitter."
Without a doubt, this choice was totally in line with how Seth McFarlane addresses controversies like this. And while it wasn't exactly up-front about what went on behind the scenes at Family Guy, it definitely revealed why the show canceled James Woods.
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