Independent music publisher Bourne Co has sued Twentieth Century Fox over allegations that an edition of Fox's 'Family Guy' TV show featured an unauthorised reworking of one of their songs - 'When You Wish Upon a Star' from the Walt Disney film 'Pinocchio' - which contained anti-Semitic lyrics.
The episode of the show in question was called 'When You Wish Upon A Weinstein', and according to the lawsuit it is based around main character Peter Griffin's inability to manage his family finances, and his belief he needs to hire a Jewish person to take care of his money. The story features a song sung by Griffin called 'I Need A Jew' which Bourne claim is a "thinly-veiled copy" of their song, but with "new anti-Semitic lyrics". The publisher's suit claims the song both infringes it rights in and has harmed the value of the original song.
Bourne also claim they approached Fox about the alleged infringement but that their approaches were rebuffed. Fox have so far refused to comment on the lawsuit, saying they are yet to see the legal papers in the case.