Stewart upsets Catholics, Beastie Boys video and 10 awesome Israeli animals

JTA Staff

NEW YORK (6NoBacon) — “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart has been the site of some controversies lately, and this week it was the host himself who was caught in a furor.

First, Ricky Gervais cracked some Anne Frank jokes on the show, then had to explain himself and his “intentionally ignorant” comedy. This week it was Stewart himself who found himself under fire from the Catholic League for suggesting that women use “vagina mangers” to call attention to threats to female reproductive freedom.

Stewart has criticized Fox News for using the term “war on …” from Christmas to salt, yet holding back from saying “war on women” in reference to recent abortion and birth control debates. To catch Fox News’ attention, Stewart advised women to put “vagina mangers” over their genitalia to catch the media’s attention. His suggestion came with a graphic that featured the manger as the Nativity scene.

That upset the Catholic League, which launched a campaign to boycott Stewart and Comedy Central. The league’s president, Bill Donohue, was scheduled to appear on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Tuesday to discuss the boycott campaign.

Shia LaBeouf stays in line with his comic books

Shia LaBeouf used to be Hollywood’s bad boy. The “Transformers” star was picked up on a DUI, got into bar fightsand didn’t seem overly concerned about negative headlines.

But recently he’s been drawing some positive headlines for directing a horror music video for rapper Kid Cudi and creating his own comic book, which he showed off in Chicago last weekend. LaBeouf’s comic books (“LaBeouks”) feature illustrations that go along with his thoughts and observations (and there are many of them).

The Chicago Tribune referred to his collection as “borderline philosophical” and having “crude, child-like drawings.”

Bono draws a dog full of hope in Jerusalem

Bono, the fearless leader of U2, may have kept his visit to Israel on the down low, but he didn’t leave without some words of wisdom — and with drawings!

After staying at Jerusalem’s famous King David Hotel, Bono left a note in the hotel guestbook comparing hope to a “faithful dog.” A sketch of a dog, which looked a bit similar to Bono himself, accompanied the deep words.

Vote on the Beastie Boys video

Congratulations to the Jewish kings of hip-hop, Mike D (Michael Diamond), MCA (Adam Yauch) and Ad-Rock(Adam Horovitz) — the Beastie Boys — who didn’t sleep till Cleveland, and who were inducted last week into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We created a special Weekly Sizzle video tribute to the song, which the Hall of Fame called “essential.” Watch the video and vote for your favorite Beastie Boys song!

In addition, we came across this old episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show‘ in which she features worried parents disgusted by Beastie Boys song lyrics. The parents were led by Tipper Gore, of course. Enjoy this little 1980s gem, featuring crazy hair and explicit lyrics. 

Hit song gets a Hebrew cover

The song “Somebody I Used to Know” by Gotye became a YouTube sensation from day one and received countless covers online and even in the hit FOX show “Glee.”

Among the more famous covers was by Walk Off the Earth featuring six guitarists. That cover got its very own coverin Hebrew by Roi Lavi, a high-pitched singer wearing a kipah, and the Good Guys, who accompany him playing one instrument.

Lea Michele’s birthday bash for Babs

“Glee” star Lea Michele really loves Barbra Streisand, and she’s not afraid to say it or do something about it. In honor of Babs’ 70th birthday, Michele announced that she would throw a party and invite all of her friends to watch Streisand movies and sing Streisand songs.

10 photos of animals common to Israel doing awesome things

In celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, we collected this cute list of 10 animals common to the Holy Land caught in the act of doing something, umm, awesome. Enjoy!