Newspaper Apologizes for Editorial Cartoon, Bans Cartoonist from Their Pages – updated
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On Wednesday The Quad City Times published a cartoon by Leo Kelly taking a swipe at MAGA racism, but the cartoon invoked a Simpsons character whose name has become offensive to many and so the tables were turned with the newspaper and the cartoonist being accused of racism.
The cartoon came to presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s attention who tweeted about it:
It’s sad that this is how the MSM views Republicans. I’ve met with grassroots conservatives across America & never *once* experienced the kind of bigotry that I regularly see from the Left. Iowa’s ?@qctimes absolutely has the right to print this, but it’s still shameful.
Fox News picked up on the story on Thursday after Vivek’s tweet:
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy trashed a major Midwest area newspaper on Thursday for publishing a political cartoon depicting MAGA voters yelling racial slurs at him while on the campaign trail.
The controversial cartoon was published in Wednesday’s edition of the Quad-City Times, an outlet reporting news from four cities between Iowa and Illinois. In black and white ink, it depicted a campaign rally with Vivek addressing MAGA voters, who were drawn hurling racial insults at him from the stands.
Mediaite picked up on a Fox News opinion show’s take on the incident:
“The media, they always go after, not the candidate, but the voters,” said Outnumbered co-host Kayleigh McEnany. “Half the country — good, hardworking people — who are not racist, as they suggest.”
“It is the dripping disdain from the Far Left — the elite condescension from the Democrat Party — that we will never escape,” Emily Compagno said.
The Quad City Times apologized for running the cartoon Friday afternoon:
Racist and hateful ideas, words or images have no place in our publications, much less our society.
It’s why we apologize today for letting such an image slip through our editorial process and into our opinion page Wednesday in the form of a political cartoon.
The cartoon, while intended to criticize racist ideas and epithets, uses a phrase that is racist and insensitive to members of our Indian American community.
The cartoon has been removed from our websites and e-editions, and we will not be accepting any further work from the cartoonist [emphasis added].
We apologize to Republican primary presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, the Indian American community and our readers for publishing the offensive material in the Quad-City Times and Dispatch-Argus.
We seek to share diverse ideas on our opinion pages — editorials, cartoons and commentary that provoke thought and constructive ideas.
Vivek Ramaswamy acknowledged the apology.
As is customary the cartoonist is punished, the approving editor gets a pass.
UPDATE:
Vivek Ramaswami accepts apology and urges the paper not to cancel the cartoonist:
I accept the apology, and let’s cordially move on. I’d be happy to talk to the cartoonist offline, too – I’m empathetic to people who make mistakes once in awhile. Let’s not go further or see people get fired over it; the cartoonist should in no way be ‘canceled.’ We are all human.
The apology is sufficient and well-received.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Republican candidate for president
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