Seth MacFarlane considers repeat Oscars performance

Seth MacFarlane, the comic actor and director whose Oscars hosting stint was dubbed the "meanest in history" is mulling considering a repeat performance in 2014, according to Deadline.

MacFarlane, whose jokes about female nudity, domestic violence and Jews in Hollywood led to condemnation from many commentators, had previously said he was unlikely to return as host. But with the 2013 show's producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron set to reprise their roles next March, he is being courted to help repeat the formula that garnered the awards ceremony its best ratings in three years.

According to Deadline's report, the main obstacle remains MacFarlane's busy schedule. He is currently working on comedy western A Million Ways to Die in the West, in which he will star alongside Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried and Liam Neeson, and is also planning a sequel to 2012 blockbuster comedy Ted. The Oscars job is said to be a four-month commitment, which may not be possible given MacFarlane's current schedule.

There appears no doubt that Oscars bosses want the comic to return, however. Despite controversial moments such as musical number We Saw Your Boobs, which referenced well-known Hollywood actors' supposed inclinations towards on-screen nudity, MacFarlane's stint saw a 20 per cent boost for the lucrative 18-34 audience and a dramatic 34 per cent hike in male viewers in the same age range for a show that has traditionally been more popular with female viewers.

MacFarlane, meanwhile, who is the creator of the “Family Guy” animated series this week took to Twitter to denounce a hoax making the rounds on the Internet a day after the Boston Bombings, reports the Los Angeles Times. A carefully edited clip supposedly supports the theory that an episode of the show predicted the attacks which left three dead. “The edited Family Guy clip currently circulating is abhorrent,” he wrote. “The event was a crime and a tragedy, and my thoughts are with the victims.” The edited clips came from an episode that aired last month titled “Turban Cowboy.” In the edited version, the show’s main character, Peter Griffin, appears to use a cellphone to trigger a pair of explosions in order to win a race. While all the clips were taken from the episode in question, which did feature a terrorism-related story, they did not appear in such a way as to suggest that this was the inspiration for or a prediction of the Boston bombing. The clip and theory was first put forth by conspiracy-theorizing talk radio host Alex Jones’ website InfoWars.com, whose founder tweeted shortly after the bombing on Monday that he suspected it was a “false flag” operation perpetrated by the U.S. government. After getting wide dissemination online, the clip in question has been pulled from the YouTube website. The Associated Press reports that Fox has elected to remove the “Turban Cowboy” episode of “Family Guy” from Hulu.com and Fox.com and has no immediate plans to re-air it.