On the morning of September 11 , 2001 , MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston . Suffering from a hangover after the previous night 's celebrations that followed his speech at his alma mater , the Rhode Island School of Design , and with an incorrect departure time ( 8:15 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m. ) from his travel agent , he arrived at Logan International Airport about ten minutes too late to board the flight , as the gates had been closed . Fifteen minutes after departure , American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked , and at 8:46 a.m. it was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center , killing everyone on board . MacFarlane said : " The only reason it has n't really affected me as it maybe could have is I did n't really know that I was in any danger until after it was over , so I never had that panic moment . After the fact , it was sobering , but people have a lot of close calls ; you 're crossing the street and you almost get hit by a car . . . this one just happened to be related to something massive . I really ca n't let it affect me because I 'm a comedy writer . I have to put that in the back of my head . " On October 3 , 2007 , Bourne Co . Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing '' Family Guy '' of infringing its copyright on the song " When You Wish upon a Star " , through a parody song titled " I Need a Jew " appearing in the episode " When You Wish Upon a Weinstein " . Bourne Co. , which holds the copyright , alleged the parody pairs a " thinly veiled " copy of their music with antisemitic lyrics . Named in the suit were MacFarlane , 20th Century Fox Film Corp. , Fox Broadcasting Co. , Cartoon Network , and Walter Murphy ; the suit sought to stop the program 's distribution and asked for unspecified damages . Bourne argued that " I Need a Jew " uses the copyrighted melody of " When You Wish Upon a Star " without commenting on that song , and that it was therefore not a First Amendment-protected parody per the ruling in '' Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music , Inc. '' On March 16 , 2009 , United States District Judge Deborah Batts held that '' Family Guy '' did not infringe on Bourne 's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11
Seth MacFarlane