Cartoon Protest, Boycott NY Post

UPDATE, February 24, 2009: STATEMENT FROM RUPERT MURDOCH

As the Chairman of the New York Post, I am ultimately responsible for what is printed in its pages. The buck stops with me.

Last week, we made a mistake. We ran a cartoon that offended many people. Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted.

Over the past couple of days, I have spoken to a number of people and I now better understand the hurt this cartoon has caused. At the same time, I have had conversations with Post editors about the situation and I can assure you - without a doubt - that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation. It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such.

We all hold the readers of the New York Post in high regard and I promise you that we will seek to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community.

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UPDATE, February 20, 2009: THAT CARTOON

From the New York Post:

Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy.

It shows two police officers standing over the chimp's body: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," one officer says.

It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.

Period.

But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism.

This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.

However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.

To them, no apology is due.

Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.

Al Sharpton responded:

Sharpton, who plans another rally for Friday, released a statement, saying he's not satisfied with simply an apology.

"The New York Post statement will be discussed by all of the leadership of the various groups that have mobilized and we will respond to it at the rally at 5 p.m. tomorrow outside of the New York Post.

"At this point there will be no cancellation of the rally and though we think it is the right thing for them to apologize to those they offended, they seem to want to want to blame the offense on those of whom raised the issue, rather than take responsibility for what they did.

"However, rather than engage as they are in name calling back and forth, we will make a collective decision on how to proceed. All of us can only wish the New York Post had taken a more mature position when the issue was first raised rather than belatedly come with a conditional statement after people began mobilizing and preparing to challenge the waiver of News Corp in the City where they own several television stations and newspapers."

The Post nailed it.

[T]here are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.

To them, no apology is due.

Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.

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This reminds me of the Muslim cartoon controversy of 2006.

These cartoons sparked outrage. Muslims around the world reacted with protests, boycotts, riots, violence, and murder. Remember?

Granted, the protesters targeting the New York Post aren't that crazed. Al Sharpton and his followers gathered peacefully today. No violence. No embassies burned. No deaths.

The similarity lies in the fact that the protest is an overreaction and thoroughly misguided.

Video.



Many black leaders and hundreds of people took part in the protest to cry "racism." Stunning.

From Newsday:

Protesters shouting, "Yes we can, shut it down" picketed outside the News Corp. building in midtown Thursday, a day after the company's New York Post newspaper ran a cartoon that they said depicted President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee shot and killed by police officers.

Led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, protesters marched in a loop inside police barricades on 6th Avenue, between 46th and 47th Street, and called for a boycott of the New York Post.

"Go to your newsstand and say, 'Do not sell it in our community,' " Sharpton said to protesters that police estimated to be 500.

One protester was Ashley Ames, 25, who is white. She said the Post is trying to set a racist agenda at a time when the country is trying to move beyond racial conflict. "They take us back," Ames said.

It's not surprising that Al Sharpton created a controversy. That's what he does.

It is disturbing that so many people, reasonable people, are buying what Sharpton is selling.

The cartoon does not depict Barack Obama as a chimp, plain and simple.

There's nothing racist about it.

As New York Post Editor in Chief Col Allan explained yesterday, "The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy."

Nothing more needs to be said by the Post. There's no offense here.

Obama did not write the stimulus bill. How could it be construed that the chimp is supposed to be Obama?

If there's anything offensive about it, it's that cartoonist Sean Delonas connects the case of Travis the chimp nearly mauling Charla Nash to death with the stimulus bill. That could be considered bad taste and inappropriate, given her condition.

What's particularly troubling about this is that racism does exist in this country. The protesters should choose their battles wisely and target real cases of racist behavior rather than phantoms.

All this sound and fury, signifying nothing.
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Newsday photo gallery of the protest.