"The Simpsons Guy," the crossover episode between the two animated shows "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" has already caught the ire of critics days before its scheduled premiere because of a joke about rape, according to Associated Press.

The controversy surrounding the episode stems from the line delivered by Stewie Griffin, one of the main characters of "Family Guy."

The line, which was featured in the episode's teaser trailer released in July, was from the scene where Bart Simpson was teaching the young Griffin how to make a prank phone call.

Of course, Bart's victim of choice is Moe, the local bartender in "The Simpsons." The scene starts with Bart telephoning Moe and pranking him with his traditional play-on-name jokes.

When it was Stewie's turn to trick Moe, the "Family Guy" character took on a darker approach.

"Hello, Moe?" he said. "Your sister's being raped!"

Shortly after the footage was released, various organizations criticized the makers of the two shows for their light and insensitive take on rape.

Tim Winter, the president of the advocacy group Parents Television Council said he felt extremely shocked after watching the trailer, Metro reported.

"I was blown out of my shoes when I saw the scene with the rape joke in it," he said, "It really troubled me."

According to Winter, amidst reports about sexual assaults and abusive treatment of women, turning rape into the punch line of a joke is extremely offensive and downplays its devastating effect on the victims.

For Katherine Hull Fliflet, the spokesperson for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, the joke delivered by Stewie in the footage is not offensive.

Flifet defended the show and said the joke is acceptable because of the way it was delivered.

"In context, it's pretty funny," she said. "I think the show is making it clear that rape is not funny by how they are positioning the joke."

Winter said he sent letters to Matt Groening and Seth MacFarlane, the men behind "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy," to ask them to take out the scene in the crossover episode, according to Tech Times.

However, with "The Simpsons Guy" not veering away from its scheduled Sept. 28 premiere date, it seems the creators of the show are proceeding with using the joke in the episode.