In 2006, the "Family Guy" Season 4 episode titled "Peterotica" begins with Peter (Seth MacFarlane) and his buddies visiting the Pornoslavia XXX video and bookstore, which was "formerly a Kenny Rogers' Roasters." Peter expects the shop to be dirty since it's a pornographic store, but then Quagmire (MacFarlane) assures him that it isn't. "Carol Burnett works part-time as a janitor," he says. The camera then reveals Burnett mopping the floors as her Charwoman character. And even though the Charwoman is only on screen for a grand total of five seconds, the real-life Carol Burnett was not pleased at all. It turned out that "Family Guy" executives didn't get Burnett's permission to use her character's likeness.
As a result, Burnett filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox — the studio behind "Family Guy" — for over $2 million citing copyright infringement (per Today). However, in June of 2007, U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson ruled that the act of creating parodies is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights First Amendment, so Burnett's attempt to sue "Family Guy" failed.
"In the new media, any self-imposed restraint essentially has been eliminated," Pregerson said (via BuddyTV). "Public figures, such as Ms. Burnett, are frequent targets of parodies and crude innuendo. As Ms. Burnett well knows, it takes far more creative talent to create a character such as the 'Charwoman' than to use such characters in crude parody. Perhaps Ms. Burnett can take some solace in that fact."
