{"id":43963,"date":"2025-04-25T13:06:33","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T17:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=43963"},"modified":"2025-04-25T13:06:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T17:06:33","slug":"seinfeld-star-says-deeply-religious-parents-werent-fans-of-his-work-called-it-blasphemous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/04\/seinfeld-star-says-deeply-religious-parents-werent-fans-of-his-work-called-it-blasphemous.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Seinfeld\u2019 Star Says Deeply Religious Parents Weren&#8217;t Fans of His Work, Called it &#8216;Blasphemous&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_43966\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43966\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/04\/Patrick-Warburton_credit-Gage-Skidmore-commons-wikimedia-org-Inset-Patrick-Warburton-Facebook.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43966\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/04\/Patrick-Warburton_credit-Gage-Skidmore-commons-wikimedia-org-Inset-Patrick-Warburton-Facebook.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-43966\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gage Skidmore \/ commons.wikimedia.org | Inset: Patrick Warburton \/ Facebook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Patrick Warburton, best known for playing the hilariously deadpan David Puddy on &#8220;Seinfeld&#8221; and voicing Joe Swanson on &#8220;Family Guy,&#8221; says not everyone was a fan of his success, particularly his \u201cvery religious\u201d parents, who disapproved of his roles and called some of his work \u201cblasphemy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a candid interview with <em>Fox News Digital<\/em>, the actor opened up about the tension between his career and his parents\u2019 devout Catholic beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey don&#8217;t see it as satire. They see it as blasphemy,\u201d Warburton said of his parents&#8217; views on &#8220;Family Guy,&#8221; the long-running animated series he&#8217;s worked on since 1999. \u201cSo, it was just a conversation that we were never really able to have. We never saw eye to eye on it. But, yeah, they always hated that show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His father, John Warburton, once studied at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where famed Catholic monk Thomas Merton was his spiritual advisor. Though John ultimately pursued a career in medicine, faith remained central in his life. Warburton noted, \u201cHe was one of the most famous Catholic scholars of our day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His mother, Barbara, was even more committed to her religious convictions. \u201cIf Mom could possibly be worse than Dad, she is, yes,\u201d Warburton joked. \u201cMy mother belonged to the American Television Council, and they were trying to get the show canceled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He recalled a particularly ironic moment: \u201cI was helping support my parents with &#8220;Family Guy&#8221; money. She tried to get me to sign the petition [to cancel the show]. I said, \u2018Mom, if you don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to talk about this publicly, this is the greatest irony. You\u2019re laundering money. You\u2019re laundering it to yourself.\u2019 They hate it more today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even his breakout role on &#8220;Seinfeld&#8221; didn\u2019t escape his parents\u2019 moral scrutiny. Warburton\u2019s character, Puddy, debuted in the 1995 episode \u201cThe Fusilli Jerry,\u201d which featured a storyline involving a shared romantic move. The response from his father was intense. \u201cI received a six-page letter from my father about how disappointed he was and the choices I was making,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, they had an issue with not dealing with the sex act with any sanctity&#8230; It\u2019s all about procreating and nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Warburton shared another story that illustrated his mother\u2019s passionate mission to convert others to Catholicism, including his coworkers. \u201cMy mom says, \u2018Are you going to work on &#8220;Seinfeld&#8221; today?\u2019 I said, \u2018I am, as a matter of fact.\u2019 And she said, \u2018I have this dynamic videotape that has converted a lot of my Jewish friends. If I gave it to you, would you give it to Jerry [Seinfeld]?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cDad actually piped in and said, \u2018Barbara, leave well enough alone.\u2019 So, at least he still had that common sense about him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Years later, his mother doubled down during one of Jerry Seinfeld\u2019s stand-up shows. \u201cShe goes, \u2018He was wonderful. I even wrote him a lovely thank-you letter.\u2019 That\u2019s when the hair on the back of my neck stood up&#8230; \u2018You probably left a DVD.\u2019 And she goes, \u2018I did.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Warburton laughed, recalling the moment he later brought it up to Seinfeld in New York. \u201cWe had a laugh, but yeah, I\u2019m sure he didn\u2019t watch it. He hasn\u2019t converted yet, as far as I know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though he\u2019s previously called himself a \u201cbad Catholic,\u201d Warburton admitted that faith still shapes his conscience. \u201cCatholic guilt runs deep,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I believe that God has a sense of humor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Patrick Warburton, best known for playing the hilariously deadpan David Puddy on &#8220;Seinfeld&#8221; and voicing Joe Swanson on &#8220;Family Guy,&#8221; says not everyone was a fan of his success, particularly his \u201cvery religious\u201d parents, who disapproved of his roles and called some of his work \u201cblasphemy.\u201d In a candid interview with Fox News Digital, the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":43966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Seinfeld\u2019 Star Says Deeply Religious Parents Weren&#039;t Fans of His Work, Called it &#039;Blasphemous&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Patrick Warburton says his devout Catholic parents called his work on \u201cSeinfeld\u201d and \u201cFamily Guy\u201d blasphemous\u2014and tried to stop it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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