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Two days after controversy erupted when the NY Post ran an editorial cartoon that involved a dead chimp killed by police and a reference to the federal stimulus package, the NY Post has finally apologized. In a way.
Facing accusations that cartoonist Sean Delonas (and Post editors) were referring to President Obama (there's a history of racist depictions of African-Americans and other non-white groups as primates), an editorial titled "That Cartoon" explains:
Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy.The opportunists the Post is referring to would include the Reverend Al Sharpton, who held a protest outside the Post's office yesterday. Sharpton issued a statement as well, promising to discuss the Post's "apology" during another rally this evening at 5 p.m. Sharpton said, "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 who raised the issue, rather than take responsibility for what the Post did... 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 coming up 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."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.
Sharpton plans to be outside the Post's offices (6th Avenue and 49th Street) at 5 p.m. with director Spike Lee. Gawker wonders how this will affect Delonas's children's book sales. Our question: Is "That Cartoon" a reference to "That One"?
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If the chimp is supposed to be Obama why aren't people more outraged that the chimp i.e. the first African American President just got GUNNED DOWN BY THE COPS?
They are outraged at both, dumbshit.
What an idiot Sharpton is...
The cartoon is not racist because it was talking about the people who WROTE the bill, that would be Pelosi and Co., and not the one who signed it, Obama. I agree with the Post. People are looking for racism that simply isn't there. When I first saw the image Obama never entered my mind but the Connecticut tragedy did.
As for the notion that "there's a history of racist depictions of African-Americans and other non-white groups as primates", the fact of the matter is that the majority of people under 40 were probably not even aware of this.....that is until the racists protesting the cartoon and the liberal media made us aware of it. Now everybody knows about it which, ironically, keeps the negative racial characterization alive and well for another generation.
Score one for the Post.
very under forty, very aware of the association
this was not racist
enough already
It was a stupid cartoon. Period.
And stupid of the editor to not think that it might raise suspicions of racist undertones, whether it was intended or not.
I blame the editor. The cartoonist has the right to try whatever he wants, but the editor is responsible for deciding which of the cartoonist's submissions make it to the page.
sharpton feeds off of stuff like this
it pays his bills
i bet you obama wouldn't even consider this a racist cartoon
You're right. He's going to shake down the Post pretty good for this one, not that they don't deserve it.
And they just crawl out of the wood work...
I would be more outraged on how the media addresses Barack Obama on TV.
Much of the TV media has been calling him Mr. Obama, when in reality they should be referring to him as "Mr. President" or "President Barack Obama", or "President Obama"... It's just a sign of a lack of respect.
I agree !!! I thought I was the ONLY one who noticed that!! Spot on observation edEx!!
Maybe he asked them to? The people that cover the President are usually very deferential, even when attacking or asking tough questions. I can't imagine they would be doing this out of disrespect.
Where was Sharpton's outrage at the PETA protest during the Westminster Dog Show?
Even though I usually side with Sharpton and have been anti-post ever since my pops caught me reading it and dumped it in the trash circa '94, I think Delonas has a point that people are being opportunistic when it comes to using this cartoon for their own means.
Communication is an exchange involving the sender and the receiver. If receivers thought it was racist, and it wasn't intended, then there was a miscommunication. I'm skeptical that a professional editorial communication wouldn't be familiar with how his work might be seen, since part of their job of creating a cartoon is in reframing a situation, and seeing it from new angles.
In a situation like this, the cartoonist should have recognized the potential ambiguity, and put a sash on the chimp saying "Congress." Word labels aren't uncommon in editorial cartoons.
To me the absence of the label means at least that the cartoonist was tone deaf.
Sorry, "professional editorial communication" -> "professional editorial cartoonist"
Can someone please explain to me the connection between a crazed chimp shot by cops and the economic stimulus bill. I'm really not getting this...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem
i'm not a fan of the Post but....so it's free speech for the Danish cartoonist to draw Mohammed but racist for an American to draw a chimp? just saying...
Are you trying to make an argument, or just throwing words out there?
This isn't related to free speech. It's related to decency in publishing. In both cases, the cartoons should not have been published.
These Post posts are an AWESOME waste of time.
Felix, care to chime in?
Not a fan of the Post nor Sharpton, and I don't think the cartoon has any racist undertone either. However, I am sure the Post has MANY times in the past interpreted and distorted public actions and messages for their own conservative agenda, so it's just payback.
Sharpton, on the other hand, is trying to stay relevant, and we all know he's jealous of Obama.
when i first saw the cartoon i did not think "racism"
You go felix - Furries of the world unite!
Very Funny. I hope people know what Furries are. If not,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry_fandom
Hehe furry fker. Didn't Entourage do a furries scene?
Felixthecat's a furry? That explains so much. Yiff!
Thanks to Sharpton, the words Obama and chimp will now be linked in many people's minds for a while.
Thanks to Sharpton, how many people can't hear any mention of Rutgers women's basketball without the words "nappy headed hos" popping into their heads?
LOL, yeah, Sharpton did that. It certainly wasn't the guy in a cowboy hat who had a nationally-syndicated radio show and nationally-broadcast TV show. No, not at all.
You really are deluded.
Imus makes a lot of dopey comments that are immediately ignored and forgotten by his groggy early morning listeners. Sharpton made sure that millions of people who never even tune into his show heard about the nappy headed hos for months afterwards.
Sharpton's a racist himself. One day I was passing by him and his driver on 50th Street. They got out of the car to buy hot dogs to stuff their faces with. Two young black girls were also walking by and said "Hi, Al!!!" He gave them a dirty look and got back into his car. He's a real phony and a real asshole.
the shit is caressing the fan over on the reviews page for his kids book at amazon.
I think making a cartoon in reference to that poor woman getting her face ripped off by the chimp is terrible. Why is that funny?
Jews, Italians and Irish have all been portrayed as apes or monkeys. Sharpton needs to stop the race-baiting.
Here's just one recent example (warning: anti-Semitic picture)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/SV49gv5QHiI/AAAAAAAAYjo/25oQUryTZMM/s400/apes+protest.jpg
Yes, indeed. You are right.
Puck Magazine and Harper's Weekly were notorious for portraying the Irish as monkeys:
http://www.haverford.edu/engl/faculty/Sherman/Irish/19thc..htm
Sharpton is adept at monkeyshines.
You both choose to miss the point. Using a monkey to refer to any other race does not carry the historic savagery and marginalization that the underling belief has brought to blacks.
Less than human, 2/3 of a person. Refering to a Butler as a Monkey or to a Tuxedo as a Monkey suit because in the past, a majority of the butlers in America were black and they wore tuxedos.
The Nazi's propaganda equating blacks to apes during the 1932 olympics.
The many, many racist jokes about blacks being the offpring of Tarzan and his gorilla wife.
I have heard it all, and what offends me more than the stupid cartoon is when those like you play ignorant.
Referring to anyone white as a monkey will never carry the historical pain that referring to black person does.
Use something else to drive your point.
The point you are using makes you look like monkeys.
Joe Biden called Obama "articulate". Instead of a boycott he got the Vice Presidency!
mess with the bull...
I am glad Al has taken time off from resolving his tax debt to protest a cartoon in a tabloid newspaper
Can't someone find something to arrest this Al clown for?
Tax evasion, embezzlement, SOMETHING?
Gov. David Paterson has changed his tune on the dead chimp cartoon, calling on protestors to accept the paper's almost-apology and "move on."
I'm awesome.
Calm down. Breath...
Now reread your sentence, and rewrite it to fix your grammar.
Here are some useful links:
http://tinyurl.com/c4asbb
http://tinyurl.com/dbtdes
http://tinyurl.com/ammt6j
Let me know if you need help.
When replying to a comment, you needn't actually write the person's handle whom you'd like to reply to. It is built into the header.
Why must I teach you everything?
And WHY aren't you in school?
Irish are refer as the N* of Europe. in Switzerland, they told me they don't hire Irish because they are not considered the brightest. there is stereotypes everywhere.
Forgot to take your Ketamine today?
Epic lulz.
@Valeriob, scopa tua mamma, merda fungula
campagnolo
This is amazing, felixthecat foaming at the mouth over something OTHER than horses, sea kittens, and gay marriage!
Oh man this is making my workday a lot more fun.
Seriously. I've pwnd him in 2 different languages and he's still going!
Or Israel.
Cursing, acting childish, and otherwise flailing your arms and legs in failure is not appropriate in this forum.
Please stop reading Gothamist and start reading My Pet Goat.
Tell me how you really feel.
sticchiu
Now, I ask you this genuinely...
What is your native language?
Your Engrish sucks, and your Italian is sub-standard.
Enlighten me, yes?
This cartoon was the dumbest thing a news paper can allow.
I don't think there was such a racist intention, but not for that we can deny the existence of cultural symbolism. How come that mass media outlets can ignore denotations and symbols in language. THAT is plainly dumb and clumsy. That lack of semiotic awareness is what I can not accept.
Are you crying. I'm sorry. I really am.
Please forgive my rudeness.
No, I don't "need" you to make my day pleasant.
But I can't deny I'm enjoying you implode on here.
Dude, challenging people to IRL fights is SO 90's.
I don't know about you but I noted that when I am in an argument, the weasel back down except the brothers. The brothers don't back down. But the short italians back down. they are coward who can't throw a punch. It is good for me that so many men are cowards and can't throw a punch. LOL
Did you REALLY have to make another SN?
Dude, this isn't AOL.
Kinda looks like ValerioBiscuit. A delicious snack.
Is someone bashing my mom again?!
I think Delonas is a hateful jerk and the Post an accomplice to his angry unfunny cartoons.
But though Delonas may be a racist himself, I have never understood how comparing people to animals is in itself racist. I know this is semantics, but in case this happens again, can someone please list for me the animals that are acceptable in political cartoons? Seriously, I bet most people calling this racist would be ok with the President (Obama or Bush or whoever) being portrayed in a political cartoon as a jackass (which we have seen in political cartoons many times) or a pig or bear or bull or any other animal. Well, unlesss you want to censor political cartoonists.
So, is this just an unwritten rule that no one can ever be compared to monkeys, especially if they're black? Why is that "more racist" than portraying Obama as any other animal?
Imagine a political cartoon where Hillary Clinton is an organ grinder and Bill Clinton is her little monkey helping her campaign. Can you imagine it? Is this racist? Isn't it a fair idea in a political cartoon that one person is compared to a monkey? Or greedy like a pig? Or ferocious like a bear? Or has their head in the sand like an ostrich?
Once again, I love seeing the Post embarrassed for supporting such an obvious hater of blacks, gays, fat people such as Sean Delonas.
But what is so racist about monkeys? It seems to be an issue for people who are intentionally easily offended.
Maybe they should have made the cartoon of police shooting a puppet, since that is what Obama is for Pelosi, Dodd, Frank, and Reid.
That is not an assassination attempt, but just symbolic in that Obama needs to grow some and stop being a puppet for the spend crazy Democrats.
The stimulus bill should not spend beyond 2012. That would have cut the cost of it and would have narrowed the spending to just items that stimulate the economy and cut out the pork. If we need more spending after 2012, then there can be another stimulus bill!
There was one about horses but I thought it might be inappropriate.
Were they carriage horses?
To a certain extent, to consider this cartoon racist is slightly racist.
If this had been done while Bush was in power, it would have been said that they were insulting his intelligence, saying that he is dumb - like it was actually done many many times; But now people say it's racist because it's a black president.
Don't know if that makes sense. :/
wow--I personally think the protesters are MAKING this into a racial issue themselves...You really have to look at it from all angles. First of all last I checked, supposedly America was a country of freedom of speech--so why dont you make it so we are becoming more and more of a socialist country.....keep protesting Al Sharpton. NY Post should apologize for nothing. What a joke
this thread is gothamist commenters at their worst.
I finally saw this cartoon, and really think it has nothing to do with racism. For those who like to play that race card, we DO have a Black President, that should PROVE we are in a different time Now. Get over it.ITS JUST A CARTOON.