Family Guy has been a source of off-the-rails entertainment for millions of viewers across the world since it first began airing on Fox in 1999. Creator Seth MacFarlane came up with first iteration of the show — a slapstick comedy about a man and his talking dog — during his time at the Rhode Island School of Design and over time, the idea morphed into the adult cartoon we watch today. The comedy, inspired by sitcoms like The Simpsons, wasn’t an instant hit and was actually cancelled after its third season. Due to high DVD sales and a positive reaction to reruns airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, the show was revived in 2005 and has been going strong ever since.

For anyone unfamiliar with Family Guy, the animated series follows the daily lives of a dysfunctional family and their talking dog. Macfarlane stars as the family patriarch Peter Griffin, Alex Bornstein voices his wife Lois, Mila Kunis is their daughter Meg, Seth Green plays their older son Chris. Youngest son Stewie and the Griffin’s anthropomorphic dog Brian are also voiced by MacFarlane. As long as the show has been airing, the Griffin family has been getting into absurd situations, and naturally, Family Guy has spawned many a meme in its 23 years.

The latest meme from Family Guy has recently begun circulating but its more confusing than one might expect. In the past couple days, news of Lois’ death has begun trending on social media and this has fans and casual viewers wondering if they missed an important Family Guy plotline. Where did this meme come from? Is Lois truly dead? We’ve got you covered.

Why is ‘Family Guy Lois Griffin Dead at 43’ trending?

Like most memes, Twitter is to blame for the ‘Lois is dead’ meme. On Christmas Day, Twitter user @minasdemon posted the original “Lois Griffin DEAT AT 43” meme with a short clip of a woman (not Lois) screaming. The tweet quickly blew up and as of writing, has over 21 million views.

Many responded to the sad news with memes of their own.

Some Twitter users declared the news too serious to joke about. User @lively replied, “quit spreading fake news,” and another user (jokingly?) replied, “don’t joke about that.”

One user shocked the original poster by saying “I really had to google Lois Griffin to see who died because the name sounded familiar but I couldn’t picture who.” @minasdemon responded incredulously, “you don’t know mother?”

It also appears the Twitter meme might be responsible for a new TikTok trend. Recently, users have been telling their parents a favorite celebrity has died and recording their reactions using the hashtag #celebritydeadprank which already has over 70 million views and climbing.

Is Lois Griffin dead?

Like many cartoon characters, Lois has been grievously injured in the past. Despite “footage of her last moments” being spread on social media, no, Lois Griffin is not actually dead.

The viral meme even spurred speculation that Lois’ voice actor Alex Bornstein had passed away. We’re happy to report that Borstein is super active on social media and appears to be fine. She recently posted a video on her Instagram just a few days ago and looked to be in good health. We’ll keep you update if she acknowledges the meme.

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