Family Guy showrunners explain why they showed Donald Trump groping Meg Griffin

Executive producer Rich Appel says the aim was 'to show that men like Trump can attempt to prey on vulnerable people'

Family Guy showrunners have revealed why they decided to show Donald Trump groping Meg Griffin in their episode dedicated to the US president.

In Trump Guy, which aired on Sunday, the Griffins get acquainted with the White House after Peter Griffin becomes Mr Trump's press secretary.

After a few zingers, the episode switches to a serious scene when Meg, who has just been introduced to Mr Trump, ends up alone in a room with him.

As she tells the cartoon Mr Trump how excited she is to be in his presence, the president gets close and closer to her, until his hand disappears from the shot. It is then clear that he gropes Meg.

During the rest of the episode, Meg tells her parents about the assault, but they initially don't believe her.

"Meg, you expect us to believe that the president of the United States would grab a woman by her [beeped word]? That's ridiculous," says Meg's mother Lois Griffin.

That line appears to be a reference to the Access Hollywood tape that resurfaced in October 2016, in which the president can be heard claiming that fame enables someone to "grab [women] by the p****".

Executive producer Rich Appel told Entertainment Weekly of the reasoning behind the story line: "The only point in using Meg was to show that men like Trump can attempt to prey on vulnerable people.

"It’s clearly offensive and gross and not appropriate. But not only didn’t we not want to show it, we don’t want to be too explicit about exactly what happened."

Appel explained that he and the rest of the team wanted to show how Peter and Lois first struggle to believe "that the president could be accused of an unwanted touching" before recanting and realising they need to listen to their daughter.