Cesar Chavez Honored With Google Doodle On Easter, Sparking Religious Backlash

Google Doodle Draws Major Controversy

Google honored Cesar Chávez with a doodle Sunday on the 86th anniversary of his birthday, drawing nationwide attention to the Latino civil rights leader and sparking a backlash among those upset with the company for taking a pass on Easter.

Latino groups invoke Chávez as an inspirational figure, though many criticize him for viewing undocumented workers as a threat to unions. President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 as Cesar Chávez Day in 2011.

But the decision to honor Chávez infuriated many religious people and conservative publications. Conservative blog Twitchy blasted Google for featuring the image of Chávez and praised Bing for posting an image of Easter eggs.

Critics of Google's Chávez doodle spouted off on Twitter. One typical tweet reads:

And, as usual whenever the United Farm Workers union co-founder makes national headlines, Twitter users confused him with former President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez.

Google doesn’t appear to normally honor the Christian holiday with doodles. A search for the term “Easter” in Google’s doodle finder only turned up one example, from the year 2000.

Check out reactions to Google's Cesar Chávez doodle in the slideshow below.

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