NY Post Defends Cartoon, Slams Al Sharpton

The New York Post has issued a statement defending its stimulus/chimp cartoon and slamming Rev. Al Sharpton for protesting the piece.

Here's the full statement by Col Allan, editor-in-chief of the Post:

"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. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."

For background on the cartoon and resulting controversy, click here.

UPDATE: Post employees are unhappy and ashamed of the cartoon.

Comments

[bettyjean]

02:23 PM on 03/06/2009

Dear Mr. Allan:

I live in a diverse environment and consider all my neighbors as family.

As family, we are not on guard as you might be with strangers and say

what comes natural in an off-handed manner. Many people of color use

the "n" word off-handedly on a regular basis as well as referring to people

of color they are angry with as "monkeys." I've witnessed this many times

personally.

Other races also feel it's OK for them to talk about their own - but don't you

do it - because it then becomes offensive.

Being Irish, German, French and English - I could take offense at much

that is said about these nationalities. I choose not to take it personally.

Once I saw and heard President Obama speaking about the kind of dog

he and his wife were going to get their children. He said, "probably a

mutt just like me." This president is going to be the most beloved and

down to earth president ever, even more so than Honest Abe. I believe

long ago he learned not to take things so personally. Look at how he

forgave Jessie Jackson for what he said on the hot mike. No big thing

was made of that cause President Obama didn't take it personally.

[sabrahardy]

08:30 PM on 02/26/2009

- why NEW YORK POST WHY USE YOUR POWER TO - advocate MORE IGNORANT behavior???.

if this were a JEWISH PRESIDENT and the cartoon had the NYPD cops shooting a crazed Hassidim/ZIONIST or a crazed Musilim or Islamic fundimentalist or IF THE CARTOON HAD BEING SHOT A crazed Taliban the call for the death of the cartoonist would have filled the airways. CONTRACTS WOULD HAVE BEEN PAID FOR HIS LIFE, REWARDS WOULD BE OFFERED FOR HIS DEATH THE CARTOONIST would have to go into hiding. believe it any other ethnic group would have come illegally or not into the USA and blown up his car you know truth when you read it. if it were the cops shooting even the French or English the television would show PROTESTS IN THE STREETS OF FRANCE OR ENGLAND FOR REAL.

[amarie08]

02:53 AM on 02/26/2009

The cartoonist is innovative, (in a twisted way in reference to how sensitive a people we are and have EVER been @ a time like this)... but has managed to capture the attention they planned on and sadly I have to say that I am only responding because its devastating that this "old played out joke" is being contrived into more Blah, Blah, Blah that I wish we could all escape...
i am alexismarie, a 23yr old AMERICAN of African decent

[Jeff Carter]

08:24 PM on 02/23/2009

Oh boy, this open up a can of worms! I've been waiting for this day!! (I hope that "worms" statement doesn't peg me as an ignorant, irresponsible racist on the account of any unimplied undertones conveyed.)

Just because a personal interpretation is read into a cartoon doesn't make it so. I agree with the editor -- baseless allegations! What if the cartoon depicted, say, a Romulan and Klingon boiling a white rabbit? Maybe the cartoonist didn't envision that scenario, or doesn't know how to draw a scalded bunny? If it had been that scene, some other group of peoples would be offended and have their own twisted interpretation and protest.

I think the point is missed. We should be considering the threat to society, that what's depicted here represents it's OK to take measures to an extreme order -- including doing something unlawful -- to demonstrate an opinion-based protest. Whereas, I believe that if it's illegal, then it shouldn't be illustrated, such as the creepy Burger King character breaking in to someone's house and getting into bed with and terrorizing an unsuspecting couple (eat my hamburgers), or crashing your car into another in a race to get a parking spot at the mall (insurance), and to the point, shooting someone or something for sponsoring a bill you don't like.

That's what people should be appalled about. That's what I'm appalled at. And I'm *very* appalled that people have missed that point and "pulled the race card" with their personal interpretation.

[sweetnesstb]

11:57 AM on 02/22/2009

I am a 35 year old black lady and I find that cartoon very very racist... I myself used to be very racist of white people, I thought that they all were mean and hateful and all murderers of blacks... I was very afraid of them and hated them myself... Because I heard so many mean things that whites have done to african americans.... I am now someone who is no longer hateful of whites but I still feel that this country has alot of work to be done to get rid of all these stereotypes... I think that the NY Post should be ripped off all of the newsstands and all blacks should protest it... I agree with reverend al sharpton...

[Leah Smith]

12:20 PM on 02/22/2009

The cartoon was not meant to be racists, it's called freedom of speech. For as long as I can remember anytime a president has made a decision that is even remotely contoversal there has been a media reaction via cartoons and various other things. The cartoon may have been more violent then it needed to be, but it was meant to make fun of the bill not encourage shooting the president. Is this really how it's going to be for the next 4 years? Everytime someone makes fun of the president everyone is going to cry racism?
Why don't you be content with he tremendous step that we have made in electing our first african american president and realize that maybe you have achieved equality. And just maybe organizations like the NAACP are keeping you from being equal. In a time in history when the american people have elected an african american president maybe organizations meant to protect african americans when they needed it are unnecessary and actually keeping you from achieving true equality.

[gmlaster]

02:10 PM on 02/22/2009

Stop apologizing for the NYP and telling this lady that she doesn't know when she's being insulted. You don't get to make that call because you weren't the one being slighted. You ask if this is what it's going to be like for the next for years. This is how it's been for centuries. Now it's time to stop it.

It would be great if we could rest on our achievements. But hate is evil no matter who's the practitioner, whether it's a person, a news organ or a political party. It's one thing to poke fun at the President because he's got big ears. It's quite another to suggest he's a black ape who must be shot. There's a difference, and we all know what it is. We've never had a president who was vulnerable to racial slurs before and it does us no good to pretend that this was harmless fun.

We can't fix anything by just letting it go. If you see cigarette butt smoldering in dry grass, do you let it go hoping it'll die out or do you stamp it out before it can become a raging blaze that kills people? You nip it in the bud before it can do serious damage.

[Andy25]

03:23 AM on 02/24/2009

EXCUSE ME! "Making fun of the president" doesn't include comparing him
to a chimpanzee and showing cops shooting him with blood spurting out!
This is hate speach and is illegal in Germany and here too. It's called insiting
people to assassinate the president.

[vpaulsmithjr]

03:22 AM on 02/25/2009

Of course you're offended. That's the easy way. An informed/rational person would consider current events.

People like you seem to think Obama is the first president to be compared to a monkey… Where have you been? But since it has been a looooong time since George W Bush was in office and was often compared with a monkey, you're off the hook for that oversight.

Yes, this country does need to resolve the stereotype issue. The easiest way to do that is to stop fueling the fire. People like Sharpton, making such an issue over nothing, have now recemented the equating of blacks and monkeys. Now, most of the American public, black and white, has that association strongly formed when it could've just been the funny joke that it was, and moved on. Instead of agreeing with Sharpton, be furious. He's halting the progression of the ‘black image’. But, that has never been his intent, has it?

Question: Would you, as a 35 year old black lady, have been equally offended if a white president had had his work compared to that of a chimp’s (or, put your way: be personally compared to a chimp)?

YES—then it obviously isn't a race issue.

NO—then perhaps you just found the real, intended humor in the joke.

NIETHER—perhaps you would've thought: "Wait, that doesn't make sense, how can they compare [White-President] to a chimp, he's white!?" If that's the case, then you are the one with the stereotype problem.

[concernvoter]

02:31 PM on 02/21/2009

Jeremyemilo, for your information, I know the credit went to a woman. My point is that Barack is not going to stick his neck out on someone else mistake. President Obama is not expecting all the glory to come to him. He's only trying to help the American people get back on track.

Jeremyemilo, if the president would have been white and a white polar bear on the front page of the New York Post with two bullet holes in his chest, the policemen would have been looking for the cartoonist to arrest him/her and they would have been waiting to go to trial and placed in prison for approximately 15 years. Think about the man who threw the shoes at President Bush.

[Gould123]

01:09 PM on 02/21/2009

I care less if it's racist or not! It's still plan trash and disrespectful to humans/animals a like! Period!

[jeremyemilio]

01:04 PM on 02/21/2009

Here's the question you must ask yourself and answer honestly before classifying this cartoon as racist:

Would this cartoon have made sense had the president been white?

The answer, I would suggest is yes. Letterman continually uses the idea of people (he and others) having the "intelligence of a chimp" as a source of humour. I'm quite certain he doesn't think of the joke as being racially charged.

Furthermore, a chimp being shot to death is a recent news event. They didn't pull it out of their a$$.

Finally, Obama didn't write the stimulus bill. If anything, the target of the joke is a broad representative of all involved.

All that being said, the cartoon is definitely racially insensitive in that the cartoonists and the editors should have, at some point, realized that the cartoon COULD be read in the way it has been by some readers, and should also have realized that there are critics out there who would WANT to read it as being racist and who would INSIST that this is not just one way that the cartoon could be interpreted, but that it was the ONLY way it could be interpreted, when it is obvious to anyone with any analytical skills that it is not even the MOST LIKELY way it should be interpreted.

If you're honest you'll see this is on par with the claim that Kerry said if you're not very bright you end up in the military (which he never meant, either).

[Bruupo]

01:55 PM on 02/21/2009

If you have to write three paragraphs to explain or defend a political cartoon, you have failed as hard as the cartoon did. Political cartoons are meant to be understood fully at a glance, it's the whole point of the medium.

George W Bush wasn't referred to as "chimp" or "chimp-like" because of his intelligence, at least it isn't the primary reason- George W Bush physically resembles a chimp, look at his head and ears.

Is it racist to suggest George W Bush physically resembles a chimp? NO, the man is white and western society has not had a four hundred year old habit of believing in the racial inferiority of white people or making simian comparisons and allusions.

Obama has large ears, is it racist to suggest he resembles a chimp, or make a simian comparison in any way? YES IT IS, because western society has a four hundred year old habit of using simian references and comparisons to reinforce beliefs of racial superiority.

Can you understand that at long last, or are you interested in making an even lengthier, and less sincere defense of an image which was supposed to be understood in a single glance?

But, in case you don't get it, NO ONE SHOULD NEED TO BRING ANALYTICAL SKILLS TO A D*A*M*N POLITICAL CARTOON, that is the first sign that it is a complete FAIL. This one is WORSE than just a FAIL.

[jeremyemilio]

10:50 AM on 02/22/2009

"NO ONE SHOULD NEED TO BRING ANALYTICAL SKILLS TO A D*A*M*N POLITICAL CARTOON."

Oh my. I was going to respond but... well, just, oh my.

[wanttruth]

12:42 PM on 02/21/2009

The cartoon was disgusting! I'm glad the New York Post is getting heat for it. If this cartoon is a part of a pattern, then, someone needs to clean house.

[bellabeach]

11:22 AM on 02/21/2009

The NY Post, like the Enquirer is a tabloid/ gossip magazine and therefore nothing about it Journalistic!

[concernvoter]

11:01 AM on 02/21/2009

Brandon Enloe, I understand your point. We as African-Americans have been pushed aside, beaten and mistreated for so long, until we had to stand up for our rights. There is nothing wrong for setting aside a month for Black History. We earned it, we deserved it and we worked hard for it. Everyday is a "white day" and it continues to be that day. Everybody is trying to down President Obama for several things that were going on before his time. We have to realize that President Obama was voted in by the American people into this hardship. We need to work with him not against him. There were a lot of things we as African-Americans did not agree on that former President George W Bush did, but we did not go out and place a polar bear on the front page of the Washington Post with two bullet holes in his chest. We need to stop judging and allow the president to do his job. God did not give the authority to rule the Unites States, but instead He chose President Barack Obama to rule this country. In Judges Chapter 4, it speaks about Deborah a prophetess advised Barack to take ten thousand men to war at Mount Tabor. Barack obeyed and won the war. Well our troops are at war and President Bush sent them there to help benefit him, but if President Barack a chance, he will have peace placed in these countries not war.

[Raymond Hernandez]

11:46 AM on 02/21/2009

Boo, hoo, hoo

[jeremyemilio]

12:41 PM on 02/21/2009

You need to read Judges again. Barack balked. He refused to go unless Deborah held his hand. As a result, and in accordance to the prophecy of Deborah, the honor of the victory went to a woman named Jael.

[klaatu barada nikto]

10:37 AM on 02/21/2009

did Obama write the stimulus bill?

[Chaimirija]

09:57 AM on 02/21/2009

PS:

the Post did not defend that cartoon

they just went on and on and on to say

EFFF EWE

[Chaimirija]

09:53 AM on 02/21/2009

The purpose of that cartoon was to stir up trouble



Wanna hurt Murdoch? Don't give him any money

[Miketou]

01:42 PM on 02/21/2009

Come off it Barndon. This country was built on slave labor. Period! Without the slaves, this country wouldn't be what it is today. I hate people like you who try to downplay and minimize slavery. Disgusting!

[Leah Smith]

12:26 PM on 02/22/2009

We all know that this country was built on slave labor, it's a disgusting dark part of our nations history. But guess what the slaves are free and the people who enslaved them are dead. So what do you want everyone who is white to bow down and try to make up for it from now until forever? Why can't everyone put it behind them?

[Brandon Enloe]

09:01 AM on 02/21/2009

The answer to this cartoon and to all the responses is quite simple.

1. That president Obama is Black and the democrats decided to push (his race) for the campaign.
2. The media took this and pushed it way to much, oversaturating the market.
3. This made all the other races feel insignificant, worthless and not equal.
4. Therefore it caused retaliation and grew even more segregation by the other races.
5. People expressed their anger and frustration and went overboard = cartoon.

Race should never be used, no matter what. When you push so much on the fact that president Obama is black. You are indeed spreading raceism and segregation yourself. By saying that us "White" people don't understand Raceism... we are experiencing it right now. Obamas character should matter and not his race.

My final point, how can anyone support Black History Month? This country was built by many races and nationalities, asians, hispanic, white and black and the native americans. To set aside one month for one race, is absolutely rediculous.

This is Americas President and he too needs to take his criticism, just like all the presidents before him. He is not above criticism because of the color of his skin. For the record, I do not support the cartoon or the paper. I think it was tasteless and over the line, however at the same time it is freedom of press.

[Chaimirija]

09:28 AM on 02/21/2009

Obama is White

[aaronssongs]

10:12 AM on 02/21/2009

In response to your post:
1. That is a bald faced lie. Obama downplayed his race, throughout the campaign, until the right wing media's depiction of his relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright was blown out of proportion, and he was forced to make a commentary (and brilliantly!) on the subject of "race".
2. Opinion, not based in fact.
3. Projection. You can hardly speak for "other races".
4. Again, opinion, not based in fact.
5. Overboard? By whose standards?
Obama and anyone who supports him have no need to "push his race" onto anyone. The fact that he is black is a moot point and obvious. The truth be told, he is "bi-racial".
Who said that whites don't understand "racism"? That isn't even a topic for discussion. What is is the simple fact that the cartoon in the NY Post was clearly and demonstratively "racist" and offensive not only to Obama, but to most black people, given the history of whites linking blacks with monkeys or apes.

Given the neglect to the concerns and interests of the black community and its' contributions to American society, history and culture, black people decided for themselves to have a monthly celebration of themselves, hence, Black History Month...it subsequently was picked up by most everyone else and eventually a designated national observance. Get over it.
Your last statement is contradictory.

[wanttruth]

12:56 PM on 02/21/2009

Very good post!