Delta Pulls Ads From Daily Show After Conservative Complaints

Daily Show watchers won't be seeing commercials for Delta Air Lines anytime soon.

The Atlanta-based airline announced Tuesday that it is pulling its advertising from the popular Comedy Central show. While the company provided only a vague statement explaining the move, it appears to have been made over an April segment on the show about the so-called War on Women that company executives deemed inappropriate.

The bit in question appears to be Jon Stewart's "vagina manger" joke that included a photo-shopped picture of a tiny nativity manger between an otherwise naked woman's legs. (That description doesn't really do the the whole thing justice, you can watch the full thing for yourself here. The photo in question is at the 4:55 mark.)

That joke has caused an outcry from some conservatives, most notably the Catholic League which has called it "hate speech" and called for an advertiser boycott to force Stewart to apologize. The Catholic group was quick to praise Delta for acting "responsibly" by pulling its ads. (The league's next target: Kellogg's, fwiw.)

Delta hasn't credited the campaign for its decision, although its PR statement suggests that it may have played a role. "Delta doesn't discriminate nor do we condone discrimination in regard to age, race, nationality, sexual orientation, religion or gender," spokesperson Leslie Parker said in a statement to media outlets.

No official response from Stewart yet, although CNN points out that the comedian acknowledged the Catholic League's campaign against him during a stand-up performance in Florida last month. "I'm not going to censor myself to comfort your ignorance," Stewart said then.