Rob McElhenney Reveals Hilarious Note That Standards and Practices Had for Season 17 of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 is in the works, which means that the FX Standards and Practices Department is, once again, duty bound to ask Rob McElhenney whether it’s really necessary for him to do that to a dog.

You have to imagine that being responsible for keeping It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in compliance with the appropriate content guidelines of both FX and Hulu must be one of the most unenviable jobs in show business — especially for an animal lover. After all, the longest running live-action sitcom in American history is explicitly supposed to feature the most monstrous everyday behavior of America’s biggest assholes, and the restrictions of basic cable are seemingly in place to bar shows like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia from killing dogs, eating dogs or doing, umm, other things to dogs onscreen, even with the TV-MA rating prominently displayed in the top-right corner.

Earlier today, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator and star McElhenney posted a note he received from one such put-upon standards and practices professional concerning a, well, concerning scene featuring a furry guest star on his Instagram story:

While McElhenney did his best to conceal the objectionable content using the translucent marker tool on his iPhone’s photo app, it took roughly 12 seconds for the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fandom to figure out exactly what he tried and failed to redact. 

Spoilers ahead for anyone who doesn’t want to know what was so obscene in the note that phrases like “graphic bestiality simulation” made it into the final Instagram story: “Caution on the scene where Dennis shoots video footage of him masturbating a dog & when Dennis holds up a Tupperware container,” the scribbled-over warning clearly reads. Then, with a mind for protecting the legal department from receiving a strongly worded letter from a certain kitchenware company, Standards and Practices wrote, “Please keep the semen Tupperware as generic and nondescript as possible.”

So, after It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia butchered a dog, ate a dog and endlessly tortured a seemingly immortal dog, now, McElhenney and Glenn Howerton are finally going to give a dog a happy ending.