The Daily Show accidentally praised a slave state to make a joke about West Virginia

During last night’s Super Tuesday coverage, The Daily Show tweeted out jokes — well, we think they were jokes — as the election results came in.

One joke about Virginia was so bad that they had to delete it:

For the record, this was the joke so stupid that @TheDailyShow had to delete it out of embarrassment: pic.twitter.com/nmXEV38pld

— The Nats Won The World Series (@EsotericCD) March 2, 2016

The Daily Show deleted the "Rich-mond" joke becuse it was getting so much mockery on here.

— Jamie (@HelixFernandez) March 2, 2016

But it’s worse than that bad joke. Here’s what they posted a little later, again on the state of Virginia:

Hillary claims a victory in Virginia. The good Virginia too, not that creepy "West" Virginia. That place gives us the willies. #SuperTuesday

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 2, 2016

One, there’s nothing really funny about stereotyping people from West Virginia. It’s lazy and we expect more from professional comedians. But two, calling Virginia “good” and West Virginia “creepy” leaves out that West Virginia only exists because it broke off from Virginia during the Civil War and joined the Union:

That one time you remember WV seceded from VA because West Virginia didn’t want to have slaves https://t.co/dQJ8TDOCdT

— Steph Haberman (@StephLauren) March 2, 2016

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Grateful Calvin

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https://twitter.com/hanalinnea/status/704893013793906688

.@TheDailyShow West Virginia became a state b/c people rejected slavery & separated from Virginia & joined Union in Civil War #notsocreepy

— Amanda Knief (@amandaknief) March 2, 2016

https://twitter.com/samjohnftw/status/704889965096935427

We eagerly await Trevor Noah’s take on all this. Or maybe, he’s the one who wrote the joke?

I knew Jon Stewart left the show. I didn't realize all the decent writers left too. https://t.co/JohnIZ032u

— Patrick Southern (@patricksouthern) March 2, 2016

.@TheDailyShow awl, @Trevornoah why??? You're one of my favorites, but this isn't cool. ?

— Spenser Wempe (@SpenserWempe) March 2, 2016

https://twitter.com/TravisDuCote/status/704888048488620033

@TheDailyShow bullshit lazy joke. #tryharder

— Kristen Chapman Gibbons (@KCGibbons) March 2, 2016

Here’s a screenshot in case they delete it like their other lazy joke:

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