ADVERTISEMENT
Filtered By: Scitech
SciTech

Simpsons-Family Guy crossover trends worldwide, but hit for rape joke


 

 
A long-awaited crossover between two of television's hottest animated families not only threatened to top the ratings, but briefly topped worldwide trends on Twitter early Monday (PHL time).
 
The crossover between The Simpsons and Family Guy had fans tweeting what they loved about the show, with the hashtags #SimpsonsFamilyGuyCrossover and #FamilyGuySimpsonsCrossover —depending on which show fans are rooting for.
 
But not everyone happy with the crossover, with an advocacy group raising concern over a joke on rape.
 
Trending on Twitter
 
On Monday morning (PHL time), when the show was being aired in the Us, many took to Twitter to say what they thought about it.
 
 
An article on Hollywoodlife.com said the crossover featured Peter, Louis, Meg, Chris, Stewie and Brian Griffin winding up in Springfield.
 
It said Meg Griffin and Lisa Simpson butt heads, while Stewie and Bart make prank phone calls.
 
'Your sister's being raped'
 
But a separate report on CBS News said the Fox network had been asked to remove a joke where the punchline goes, "your sister's being raped."
 
The punchline had appeared in the trailer for the crossover episode, at the point when Bart Simpson coaches Stewie Griffin on how to make a prank call.
 
When Stewie asks to make his own prank call, he tells tavern owner Moe: "Hello, Moe?... Your sister's being raped."
 
"I was blown out of my shoes when I saw the scene with the rape joke in it. It really troubled me," said Tim Winter, president of the advocacy group Parents Television Council.
 
Winter added he did not think the subject was worth joking about, and said he was particularly concerned about its exposure to younger viewers.
 
"We don't mock certain groups because we realize that it is highly insensitive and morally wrong," he said. "Why wouldn't we do the same thing about sexual assault?"
 
Winter noted he had been a longtime fan of Matt Groening, who created "The Simpsons."
 
Yet, he said the punchline was offensive in the context of stories about sexual assaults on college campuses and recent talk about abusive treatment of women by some players in the National Football League.
 
Once rape is accepted as a punch line for a joke in entertainment, he warned, "it becomes less outrageous in real life."
 
Winter said he wrote to Groening and to Seth MacFarlane, creator of "Family Guy," to ask that the joke be removed when the crossover airs. He said he got no answer.
 
But Katherine Hull Fliflet, spokeswoman for the Washington-based RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network), said she did not find the line offensive.
 
"I think the show is making it clear that rape is not funny by how they are positioning the joke. It's my hope that would be the viewers' take-away," she said.

Online reactions to the rape joke


 
No comment
 
CBS News said a spokeswoman for Fox's entertainment division said the network would not comment on the criticism or whether there are any second thoughts about the joke.
 
A separate report on Hollywood Reporter said this was "hardly the first time" that "Family Guy" was criticized for its "boundary-pushing comedy."
 
It said Sarah Palin had criticized a joke about Down syndrome from one episode in 2010. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News
Tags: thesimpsons, familyguy, fox, cartoons
Most Popular