Fox's animated series Family Guy
addressed Stewie's sexuality in Sunday's episode titled Send in
Stewie, Please.
In the episode, out British actor Sir
Ian McKellen guest stars as Doctor Cecil Pritchfield. Stewie is sent
to see Dr. Pritchfield after he pushes a classmate down a flight of
stairs.
“I only pushed Tyler down the stairs
because I like him and I’m afraid he won’t like me back,”
Stewie tells Dr. Pritchfield. “And not like him, like him. I’m
not gay. This whole thing isn’t because I’m gay so calm down, I
can already see you licking your chops. I’m sure you live for the
‘coming out’ sessions. If anything, I’m less gay than I used
to be, not that anybody at this school would care. But do I think
that Grant Gustin and I would make the most adorable Instagram
couple? Yes, yes we would.”
“Grant Gustin plays The Flash on the
CW if you were wondering because, you know most people over 70
probably don’t know who he is. Think young Anthony Perkins.”
“Anyway, fluid is something I hear
being tossed around,” Stewie continues. “But I'm confident in my
heterosexuality. That's a word, right?”
Writer Gay Janetti told TVLine
that Stewie's “awareness of his sexuality is this uncertain thing,
and that needs to stay as it is.”
“But if you read between the lines,
it's not that difficult to decipher. He's not even sure
'heterosexual' is a real word!” Janetti
said.
Revealed in the episode is that Stewie
is faking his British accent.
“It felt truthful that somebody who
didn’t feel like he fit in would create an artificial personality.
To an extent, that’s what he’s done. And then to have Ian’s
character – the one person he’s sharing this big secret with –
not even hear the difference was another fun opportunity. It felt
like a good way to show Stewie’s insecurities in a way that felt
truthful to the history of the series,” Janetti said.
In a 2009 interview, Family Guy
creator Seth MacFarlane outed Stewie, telling Playboy that
Stewie “will be gay or a very unhappy repressed heterosexual.”