Family Guy episode showing mass death at Boston Marathon pulled by Fox

Fox is pulling from websites an episode of "Family Guy" that depicts mass deaths at the Boston Marathon and has no immediate plans to air it again. (AP)

America’s Fox network has pulled an episode of animated comedy Family Guy which depicts mass death at the Boston Marathon and says it has “no immediate plans” to broadcast it.

The episode showed Peter Griffin mowing down a crowd of runners in his car.

When asked by sports announcer Bob Costas about his performance in the marathon Peter Griffin says: “I’ll tell ya, Bob, I just got in my car and drove it. And when there was a guy in my way, I killed him.”

Fox spokeswoman Gaude Paez said the episode had been removed from Fox.com and Hulu.com.

In a later scene Peter Griffin is seen befriending a terrorist who is plotting to blow up a bridge. When he then calls a mobile phone the friend had given him sounds of explosions and screams can be heard.

An edited clip which fuses the Boston Marathon scene with the terrorist explosion sequence making it seem – entirely incorrectly – as if the explosion was during the race, has been circulating on the internet.

The show’s creator Seth MacFarlane condemned the edited clip and offered condolences to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings which left three people dead and hundreds injured on Monday.

“The edited Family Guy clip currently circulating is abhorrent,” MacFarlane tweeted. “The event was a crime and a tragedy, and my thoughts are with the victims.”