The Catholic League threatened to boycott Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" on Wednesday if the host didn't apologize for comments made during one of his segments on April 16, 2012, according to The Cutline, a Yahoo News blog.
In a "Daily Show" segment which criticized Fox News' portrayal of the "war on women" as phony and inconsequential in contrast to Fox News' portrayal of "war on Christmas," Stewart said, "Maybe women could protect their reproductive organs from unwanted medical intrusion with vagina mangers."
The graphic that flashed on the corner of the screen showed a naked woman with a "vagina manger" between her legs.
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The Catholic League president, Bill Donohue, released a statement saying:
"This unprecedented vulgar assault on Christians cannot stand. If Jon Stewart doesn’t apologize, we will mount a boycott of his show’s advertisers. And we will enlist our allies in the Protestant, Jewish, Mormon and Muslim communities."
In a follow-up statement, Donohue said the media's failure to mention the "vagina manger" segment was a cover-up. He said:
"The cover-up is revealing. This episode of 'The Daily Show' was done to protest Fox’s alleged indifference to the 'war on women,' and in doing so Stewart not only made a vulgar attack on Christians, he objectified women.
"We are asking Stewart to apologize. If he does not, we will mobilize Protestants, Jews, Mormons and Muslims to join us in a boycott of his sponsors."
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Donohue said the League was prepared to spend money and "stay the course" on the issue.
Brent Bozell, the founder of the conservative Media Research Center, tweeted:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bozell said, "Stewart thought he was being cute when he displayed a manger scene in front of a woman’s genitals to mock those allegedly ignoring the ‘war on women.’ If he’s such a daring political comedian, he should demonstrate his boldness by performing the same routine, but this time with a Koran and the Torah. Otherwise he is not only a bigot but also an outright coward."
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Here is the original clip from the Daily Show:
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