History Main / Nepotism

A trope often found in situation comedy, it's where the boss, (often a somewhat unpleasant one) places a relative or in-law in a position of power. Invariably, the relative will be incompetent or worse.

* In Portal 2, Wheatly accuses a work foreman robot of having done this by passing up Wheatly for a promotion in lieu of.....an exact copy of himself.

* Used seriously in ''BattlestarGalactica''. Commander Bill Adama pulls strings to get his son Zac into Viper flight school, despite the fact that he's not suitable. He later gets killed in a training accident, leading to the [[CallingTheOldManOut estrangement between Adama and his other son, Lee]] at the start of the mini-series.
** At least, that is what Lee seems to think. Adama certainly pushed his sons toward military service, but Adama Snr had nothing to do with Starbuck (who was the instructor and unknown to Adama at the time) passing Zak as fit to fly a viper because she loved him, even though she knew him to have no aptitude for flying, as she admits to Lee toward the end of the mini-series.

** At least, that is what Lee seems to think. Adama certainly pushed his sons toward military service, but Adama Snr had nothing to do with Starbuck (who was the instructor and unknown to Adama at the time) passing Zak as fit to fly a viper because she loved him, even though she knew him to have no aptitude for flying.

No RealLife examples, please. We all know this is TruthInTelevision.

* In at least one incarnation of TenchiMuyo, Mihoshi's grandfather is the Grand Marshall of the Galaxy Police. Given that Mihoshi tends be either a GeniusDitz, TheFool, or a BunnyEarsLawyer, and in any case causes massive headaches for the Galaxy Police, one theory amongst fans is that the only reason she was allowed to join, never mind stay employed, is because of this family tie. It doesn't prevent them, in the original {{OAV}}s, from sending her to patrol a sector of the galaxy considered a boring backwater... but that ends up [[ReassignmentBackfire blowing up in their faces]].

* A different form comes in BlueBloods. In this case there is no string pulling(indeed ThePatriarch often goes to [[HonorBeforeReason dramatic lengths]] to make clear to the public that he is NOT doing this. Rather the Reagan family are brought up with tradition and heroic tales of police work until they each determine to become competent cops on their own account.

** Many Popes had been secular Princes prior to taking the Holy See, and thus would have children from their earlier career, whether or not they continued their activities after taking up the cloth.

->"''Nepotism belongs in the arts, ''not'' in plumbing.''"
-->-- '''[[ThePrincessDiaries Queen Clarisse Renaldi]]'''

->"''Oh boy, I think the director's kids wanted a cameo.''"
-->-- '''TheNostalgiaCritic'''

* The TropeNamer is the tendency among late-medieval [[ThePope popes]] to hand out ecclesiastical positions and church lands to relatives, most commonly nephews, since popes did not as a rule have children of their own and when they did, would have a hard time owning up to it in public. Nepotism comes from the Latin word ''"nepos"'' (stem ''"nepot"''-), meaning nephew. The practice LARGELY ceased after the Reformation.
* And suffice to say, anecdotal evidence of this practice ''abounds'' in the workplace. Nothing more needs to be added here, so save specifics for TroperTales.

->''"Nepotism belongs in the arts,'' not ''in plumbing."''
-->--[[ThePrincessDiaries Queen Clarisse Renaldi]]

->''"I work for children...literally, the admiral is'' five. ''Goddamned nepotism. When I asked for orders, he sent me a box filled with melted chocolate and a birthday card made from macaroni."''
-->--'''[[{{Borderlands}} General Knoxx]]'''

See also ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* ''{{Baccano}}!'' has two examples, both of which are played atypically. The first is Ladd Russo who, [[{{Badass}} while definitely not incompetent]], ''is'' [[AxCrazy completely off his rocker]]. His uncle made him [[PsychoForHire a hitman]] mostly to channel his homicidal urges more efficiently. The second and more serious example is, surprisingly enough, ''[[NobleDemon Luck Gandor]]''. While he certainly doesn't ''seem'' like someone who got his position from connections alone, careful examination of the evidence (and eventual confirmation in ''The Slash'') would reveal that he's been in the higher ranks of TheMafia [[ImprobableAge since age fifteen or younger]], and only because his brothers were in charge. [[JustAKid He has quite a bit]] [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask of a complex over it.]]

* The DeathNote manga states that [[ButtMonkey Touta]] [[CowardlyLion Matsuda]] has relatives in the Police Force, hence why he has a job there despite being more or less well-intentioned, yet incompetent. [[spoiler: Until he goes all CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, that is.]]

** Also, on the {{Villains}} side of the equation, Clair has his position of "Vampire" (Mob Boss) because his father specifically stated it in his will. (The other members of TheMafia are ''not'' happy about this, partly because Clair is [[JustAKid only 19]], and partly because he's AxCrazy.)

* In ''DistrictNine'', Wikus' father in law denies that this is the reason he promoted Wikus to lead the alien eviction team. However, the trope is played with in that it seems he promoted him with the hope that he would get killed or injured.

* Played with in the ''{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/MakingMoney''- Hubert Turvy is a relative of Topsy Turvy-Lavish, the manager of the bank at the beginning of the novel. The bank has for long been the private toy of the Lavish family, so Topsy passes it on to Moist Von Lipvig, who also keeps Hubert around. The reason it's not a straight example though, is that rather than being incompetent, Hubert is a genius; he's just [[BunnyEarsLawyer nuttier than a fruitcake]].

* An old Bob Saget episode of ''AmericasFunniestHomeVideos'' once featured a production video in which the ultimate horror of the workplace was "The Boss's Kid."

* The TropeNamer is the tendency among late-medieval popes to hand out ecclestical positions and church lands to relatives, most commonly nephews, since popes did not as a rule have children of their own and when they did, would have a hard time owning up to it in public. Nepotism comes from the Latin word ''"nepos"'' (stem ''"nepot"''-), meaning nephew. The practice LARGELY ceased after the Reformation.

[[AC:{{Webcomic}}s]]

--->'''Jaksmouth:''' Admiral, one of the tursto's strike teams has captured a wormgate intact. Trinko is doing her best, but right now we need a think-tank of wormhole physicists and engineers to sort out what we're looking at here.
--->'''Breya:''' We could try to hire my brother away from that company of thugs he's hanging out with.
--->'''Jaksmouth:''' Right. Sure. You know, that reminds me. I have a good-for-nothing nephew who could use a steady paycheck.
--->'''Breya:''' Your non-sequitur looks more like a subtle accusation of nepotism.
--->'''Jaksmouth:''' He's very qualified management material, for sure.

* An episode of ''SpongebobSquarepants'' had Mr. Krabs give his daughter Pearl control of the restaurant, where she then flips the place upside-down and aim at a new demographic just so she can get fired.
* {{The Simpsons}}: In "Brother from the Same Planet", the soccer coach selects Nelson to attend Pele's soccer and acting camp and Nelson thanks his dad. In "Bart Star", Homer coaches Bart's pee-wee football team.

[[AC:Comics]]
* A non-comedic example occurs in ''JudgeDredd'' - when Rico gives Deputy Chief Judge Sinfield's clone, March, a failing grade at the end of his provisional period for being too ruthless, Sinfield responds by [[ReassignedToAntarctica sending Rico to oversee the mutant townships in the Cursed Earth]]

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-->--'''[[{{Borderlands}} General Knoxx]]