“When You Wish Upon a Weinstein” ended up being the subject of a lawsuit tied to Disney’s classic animated adaptation of “Pinocchio” from 1940. But it wasn’t the House of Mouse behind the lawsuit, and it had nothing to do with the episode’s satire of Jewish stereotypes. Instead, three years after the episode aired, Bourne Music Publishers sued Fox and the creators/producers of “Family Guy” because they believed a parody of the iconic song “When You Wish Upon a Star” was nothing more than a “thinly veiled copy” of their original tune (via Wall Street Journal).
In “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein,” Peter Griffin sings a song about wanting someone Jewish to help him get back the money he lost in the volcano insurance scam. The song is titled “I Need a Jew,” but it’s very clearly a spoof of “When You Wish Upon a Star,” which is a no-brainer considering the title of the episode. Here’s the song as it appears in the “Family Guy” episode:
In the lawsuit, the attorney for Bourne Music Publishers said, “If you listen to the structure of the lyrics, the song, the name of the episode and how (Peter’s) singing out the window to the stars, there’s no question they were using the song.” Yes, that’s true, and that’s because “Family Guy” was intentionally parodying the famous song, which is why the lawsuit didn’t amount to any real legal trouble a couple of years later when the case came to an end.
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