During a recent episode of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” the host mocked Fox News for a soft interview with Sen. John McCain. Pretending to be a reporter, Stewart asked of himself, “Is Jon Stewart fair to Republicans?” Although this skit had absolutely nothing to do with Catholicism, Stewart managed to turn it into another one of his vintage Catholic-bashing moments.

Stewart: “Does the pope s*** [bleeped] in the woods? Because if not, not only am I not fair to Republicans, I think a bear wearing a hat gave me Communion.”

[Next was an image of Stewart kneeling with his hands folded in prayer, and a large bear dressed as the pope holding a Host and ciborium; Stewart was kneeling waist high to the bear.]

Stewart: “I’m not going to make that other joke that I was just about to make—it was about one of us not using our teeth.”

In response to this, Bill Donohue stated “If I belonged to some other religion, I would do more than knock his teeth out. Lucky for Stewart, I am a Catholic.”

KRAFT FOODS INC.

Ms. Irene Rosenfeld
Chairman and CEO
Kraft Foods Inc.
Three Lakes Drive
Northfield, IL 60093

Ms. Rosenfeld can also be contacted by e-mail: [email protected]

SUBWAY

SUBWAY World Headquarters
Attn: Kevin Kane, Public Relations Manager
325 Bic Drive
Milford, CT 06461

Contact Kevin Kane, the Public Relations Manager: [email protected]

Mars, Inc.

Mars, Inc.
Attn: Ryan Bowling
Global Director, External Communications
800 High St.
Hackettstown, NJ 07840

Contact Ryan Bowling, Global Director, External Communications: [email protected]

Kellogg’s

Kellogg’s
Attn: John A. Bryant
President and CEO
One Kellogg Square
Battle Creek, MI 49017

Contact John A. Bryant, President and CEO: [email protected]

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines
Attn: Richard Anderson
Chief Executive Officer
1030 Delta Boulevard
Atlanta, GA 30354

Contact Richard Anderson, Chief Executive Officer: [email protected]

The Wrigley Company

The Wrigley Company
Attn: Andy Pharoah
Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs
410 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611

Contact Andy Pharoah, Senior VP, Corporate Affairs: [email protected]

The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company
Attn: John P. Bilbrey
President and CEO
100 Crystal A Drive
Hershey, PA 17033

Contact John P. Bilbrey, President and CEO: [email protected]

Ace Hardware Corporation

Ace Hardware Corporation
Attn: Christopher Boniface
Media Manager
2200 Kensington Court
Oak Brook, IL 60523

Contact Christopher Boniface, Media Manager: [email protected]

Paramount Farms

Paramount Farms
Attn: Sonya Grigoruk
Public Relations Director
11444 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite 310
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Contact Sonya Grigoruk, Public Relations Director: [email protected]

Anheuser-Busch InBev

Anheuser-Busch InBev
Attn: James Villeneuve
Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communications
One Busch Place
St. Louis, MO 63118

Contact James Villeneuve, Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communications: [email protected]

In our September issue, we ran a story about the book by Tom Connor and Jim Downey,Martha Stuart’s Better Than You at Entertaining. The book was featured as a parody of the work of stylist, Martha Stewart. It also featured several anti-Catholic pictures and commentaries.

Reading the last page of the book led us to believe that the book had the blessings of the real Martha Stewart. But we were wrong. The league was contacted by Allyn Magrino, publicist for Martha Stewart, asking that we clear Stewart’s name. We asked for a statement from Martha Stewart and promised to publish it in Catalyst. It is printed below:

“Neither I nor anyone on the staff of Martha Stewart Living (including stylists, photographers, writers, editors) worked on the concept, production, or publishing of the parody Martha Stuart’s Better Than You at Entertaining. I did not lend my name to this project, was not consulted regarding its content, nor was I advised in advance that it was being developed in a second year in a row.

I have never ridiculed Catholicism or any religion in my books, weekly television show, monthly magazine or Christmas special. My office is very active working with charities of all denominations and contributing to the community in which we work and throughout the United States and Canada.

My books are published by Random House, Clarkson Potter/Crown and Oxmoor House, Inc. and Leisure Arts. I do not work with HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. which published the parody.

I apologize for the obvious concern this matter has caused Catalystreaders, but I have no control over what is written about me or parodies done regarding my work.”

We are grateful to Martha Stewart for this clarification and regret misidentifying her with the parody. We conveyed our apologies to her through her publicist.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows:

Jon Stewart refused to apologize last night for the unprecedented assault on Christian sensibilities he launched on April 16. In that episode, “The Daily Show” featured a naked woman with her legs spread and a nativity scene ornament placed between her legs; with the picture on the screen, Stewart laughed at what he called the “vagina manger.” To see the picture, click here. **Warning: Explicit Content**

Our effort against Stewart includes asking his most consistent sponsors to pull their advertising (if necessary, we are not ruling out a boycott of their products), and a lengthy public relations campaign. The goal? To get him to apologize. If that doesn’t work, we can guarantee that his reputation will never be the same.

Today we will contact Kraft, one of whose products, MiO Energy, was one of the five sponsors that advertised on both the April 17 and April 18 episodes. Moreover, we will contact those on our “Allied Organizations” list (over two days) to join this campaign. They will be asked to contact Steve Albani, Senior VP of Comedy Central Communications, and Kraft.

This is just the beginning. Over the next several weeks, we will contact every major Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Mormon and Muslim leader and organization in the nation; they will be sent the picture, along with Stewart’s remarks. We will contact Viacom (which owns Comedy Central, home to “The Daily Show”) making sure that all board members and senior management know about Stewart’s anti-Christian and grossly misogynist attack. We will take out ads in newspapers, etc. We are not going away.

What Jon Stewart did ranks with the most vulgar expression of hate speech ever aired on television. His incivility cannot go unanswered.

Contact Steve Albani, Senior VP Comedy Central Communications: [email protected]

According to the Tampa Bay Times, while performing in Florida on Saturday night, Jon Stewart “offered some serious messages, railing against cable TV news channels’ ‘outrage machine’ after noting the Catholic League boycotted him for a joke placing a manger between a woman’s legs.”

Stewart then said, “I’m not going to censor myself to comfort your ignorance.” The newspaper said this remark was made “in a rare moment of seriousness.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue picked up on what Stewart said:

Nice to know the Catholic League is on Jon Stewart’s mind. Unfortunately for him, we’re going to hang around for weeks, contacting his sponsors and religious leaders from all the major religions. We’re sending them the “vagina manger” picture he is so proud of, asking everyone to pressure Comedy Central into getting Stewart to apologize.

We really don’t need to boycott anyone as the picture is so indefensible—putting a nativity scene ornament in between the legs of a naked woman—that no one save the maliciously sick would even try to defend it.

The good news is that Stewart lashed out at us in a serious moment—the e-mails that are pouring into Comedy Central are obviously getting to him. We’ll see who is branded as “ignorant” when our campaign is done.

Contact Comedy Central Communications head Steve Albani: [email protected]

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Jon Stewart’s record of apologies:

Jon Stewart refuses to apologize to Christians for his “vagina manger” stunt of April 16, but that’s not because he is averse to granting apologies.

On April 30, 2009, he apologized for branding President Harry Truman a “war criminal.” He said that characterization was “dumb” and “stupid.”

Stewart issued two apologies in June 2011. The first one involved his close relationship with the disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner. On June 7, he apologized at a press conference for badly handling his commentary on the Weiner scandal. The Baltimore Sun reported that he “looked kind of confused and pathetic at times, particularly in his wrongheaded criticism of the media.”

On June 21, Stewart apologized for smearing Fox News viewers. He had called them “the most consistently misinformed media viewers,” but was taken to task by PolitiFact for doing so. What was striking about the Fox News incident was Stewart’s statement that the apology was necessary because he did not want to “undermine the very integrity and credibility that I work so hard to pretend to care about.”

None of the offenses that Stewart has apologized for even approach the serious nature of his vile April 16 episode. Yet he refuses to apologize to the 80 percent of the nation that is Christian. As a result, he has seriously undermined his integrity. Indeed, it is shot.

Contact Comedy Central Communications head Steve Albani: [email protected]

Jon Stewart refused to apologize to Christians for his “vagina manger” stunt of April 16, but not because he is averse to granting apologies.

On April 30, 2009, he apologized for branding President Harry Truman a “war criminal.” He said that was “dumb” and “stupid.”

Stewart issued two apologies in June 2011. The first one involved his close relationship with the disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner. On June 7, he apologized at a press conference for badly handling his commentary on the Weiner scandal. The Baltimore Sun reported that he “looked kind of confused and pathetic at times, particularly in his wrongheaded criticism of the media.”

On June 21, Stewart apologized for smearing Fox News viewers. He had called them “the most consistently misinformed media viewers,” but was taken to task by PolitiFact for doing so. What was striking about the Fox News incident was Stewart’s statement that the apology was necessary because he did not want to “undermine the very integrity and credibility that I work so hard to pretend to care about.”

None of the offenses that Stewart has apologized for even approach the serious nature of his vile April 16 episode.

Bill Donohue comments on last night’s episode of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”:

Jon Stewart’s legacy is stained with anti-Catholic bigotry, a tradition he continued to uphold in last night’s episode of the “The Daily Show.” What started off with jabs against the cardinals and their chances of election began to devolve when a “Vatican Correspondent” called Communion a “cracker and juice ceremony.”

The segment continued its descent into the gutter with a vicious “report” on the Conclave that was full of double entendre; Stewart’s “Senior Vatican Correspondent” Samantha Bee likened the papal election process to the stages of sexual abuse.

Bee called the gathering of cardinals a “grope,” who took part in a “molestation,” which she claimed was the “liturgical name” of the voting process. That process, Bee said, was not complete until the cardinals reached a “fellatio,” (an “oral consensus”) culminating in “white smoke rising from the chimney.” When Stewart asked Bee if that was called an “ejaculation,” she mockingly responded with the word’s authentic definition, a short prayer.

Stewart’s return to the gutter is of no surprise, but perhaps he should get his facts straight about the homosexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church: it ended almost three decades ago. If he wanted to be current, he would rip on the sexual abuse taking place in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. But no, he saves his vitriol for Catholics.

Contact Comedy Central spokesman Steve Albani: [email protected]