Microsoft to Seth MacFarlane: The relationship is over.

Roughly two weeks after Microsoft announced that the "Family Guy" creator would be the next funnyman employed by Redmond to sell Windows 7 (following up Jerry Seinfeld, who starred in a series of thoroughly inscrutable ads in support of Windows Vista), the deal has mostly fallen apart.

According to Variety, Microsoft yanked its sponsorship of "Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show," due to air on Nov. 8, after realizing that MacFarlane intended to be MacFarlane and make jokes about "deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest."

Oops.

"We initially chose to participate in the Seth and Alex variety show based on the audience composition and creative humor of 'Family Guy,' but after reviewing an early version of the variety show, it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand," a Microsoft spokesperson told Variety. "We continue to believe in the value of brand integrations and partnerships between brands, media companies and talent."

Microsoft should have expected that MacFarlane would push the envelope; indeed, by signing up for sponsorship, they were all but begging the comedian to lampoon their newest product--MacFarlane, as I mentioned in my previous post on this, needs to keep his subversive street cred with that crucial 18-to-35-year-old set.

The door has been left open, though, for Microsoft and Fox--which airs "Family Guy" and other MacFarlane productions--to launch their planned 12-week college tour that, in the words of Microsoft, "gives students the chance to try Windows 7 for themselves and enjoy customized entertainment created by Fox Licensing and Merchandising."

In the meantime, any major corporation that wants their brand associated with the Holocaust and deaf people, well, MacFarlane is waiting to take your call.