Political Cartoons: Is There Anyone They CAN'T Offend?

Well, I was getting ready to blog (again) on the Alex Rodriguez saga, particularly the response from ESPN's ombudsman on the exclusive interview with Peter Gammons. If that's still you're deal, feel free to click the link.

Anyway, as that post was developing, I caught a glimpse of the above cartoon from Wednesday's New York Post: a tragic combination of two of the major US news stories of the past week.

Among those in the journalistic realm, it doesn't take a trained monkey (pun semi-intended) to figure out that this particular cartoon is going to offend people. A lot of people.

Even those who aren't journalists have seen several political cartoons that have depicted African-Americans as monkey-like. Surely they had hope that with an African-American president now in office, this sort of thing would disappear.

'Fraid not.

Of course, the outrage has been pouring in. In what is a shock to no one, the Reverend Al Sharpton was quick to express his disgust:

"The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual reference to this in the cartoon...

"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 are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?"

Now, one would think in the realm of professional journalism, the Post would acknowledge Rev. Sharpton's opinion as well as apologize for the nature of the cartoon.

One would think...

Listen to the statement by the Post's editor-in-chief, Col Allan:

"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."

Shnikes!

From some reports, the mood in the newsroom is not quite as supportive of cartoonist Sean Delonas. Sam Stein of the Huffington Post reported this:

"On Wednesday, an employee of the paper told the Huffington Post that the phone lines had been inundated with complaints over what was interpreted as a racially charged jab at Obama. 'As they f--king should be,' said the source."

Given the oft-criticized conservative slant of the Post, it shouldn't be a surprise that if a cartoon of this nature were to appear, it would happen there. But with the startlingly unapologetic response from Allan, it would seem that Rupert Murdoch now finds himself in a deep pile of didgeri-doo.

Unless, that is, the paper prints something akin to this.