NY Post Cartoon: Travis the Chimp and Obama

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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The New York Post has come under fire for running a cartoon on Wednesday.

From the Chicago Tribune:

The New York Post on Wednesday defended an editorial cartoon by Sean Delonas that depicted two gun-toting police officers and the caption "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill" as they stood over a dead chimpanzee.

The Post said it referenced a pet chimp named Travis who was shot to death Monday after attacking a houseguest in Connecticut. But civil rights organizers—prominently including Rev. Al Sharpton—denounced it as a racist insult aimed at President Barack Obama.

"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," said Post Editor in Chief Col Allan.

Nevertheless, the cartoon underscored powerful and well-studied stereotypes of African-Americans, said Andrew Rojecki, an associate professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-author of "The Black Image in the White Mind."

"The cops are saying, 'Someone's going to have to write the next stimulus bill.' Well, who wrote the last stimulus bill? It's Obama and the Democratic Party, but really it's associated with one person—and that's Obama," Rojecki said. "It's a crude joke. ... It's pretty transparent to me."

..."Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama [the first African-American president] and has become synonymous with him, it is not a reach to wonder whether the Post cartoonist was inferring that a monkey wrote it?" Sharpton said in his statement.

Allan dismissed the criticism.

I think this is ridiculous. Sharpton is looking to be offended. He's race-baiting. He's seeking publicity.

This is more about Sharpton looking to get in the spotlight than it is about Obama.

In short, it's Sharpton being Sharpton.

There should be no outrage over the cartoon.

It isn't a racial attack on Obama, referring to him as a chimp.

(By the way, how many times did the mainstream media, comics, MSNBC types, and other Lefties refer to President Bush as a "smirking chimp"?)

Obama didn't WRITE the stimulus bill. He likely didn't READ the stimulus bill.

The chimp on a rampage is a metaphor for Washington Dems run amok, not Barack Obama, African-American.

Why would anyone assume that the cartoon is a racially charged attack directed at Obama?

That's nuts.

This is just Sharpton stirring things up, finding racism where none exists. Unfortunately, there are people willing to follow Sharpton's lead and cry wolf.
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