Four cartoonists, whose works appear in the Cavalier Daily, have quit in protest over the firing of Grant Woolard who’s cartoon depicting nine naked black men fighting with chairs, sticks and boots with the caption of “Ethiopian Food Fight.” The departing cartoonists include Ellisha Marongelli, Joe Shaver, Chen Song and Laura Lin. Their departure leaves the paper with just a handful of original comics.
“We were disappointed and pretty frustrated with the way (Woolard) was treated,” said Marongelli, whose comics had been featured in the paper for three years. “What it boils down to is that I have a friend and colleague who wants to work but can’t.”
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“We put a lot of time and passion into what we do as comics artists,” Song said. “It wasn’t a decision taken lightly by any of us. It’s been, to say the least, frustrating.”
Something that might be of interest: The local altweekly in Charlottesville asked their cartoonists — P.S. Mueller, Emily Flake, and myself — for commentary on the Woolard controversy. You can read the article here.
Nice to have friends that will provide a show of unity even if sadly misplaced in this case. The paper might view it is a chance to rethink their approach to cartoons or editing cartoons. However, being a college newspaper, don’t expect them to have the high standards are a regular newspaper … just kidding, I don’t expect regular newspapers to have high standards either! 😉
Jen, your response is better reasoned than the other two, but you all circle the wagons in defense of a cartoon (and a trend in his cartoons) that was irresponsible. His apology wasn’t really an apology and his use of Ethiopians, was like a decade or two out of context. If you defend the firing of Don Imus, a shock jock doing what shock jocks do, then you should agree with this firing – in my opinion.