In South Africa:
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) came under fire over the weekend for the use of an alleged right-wing cartoonist’s image as the feature image for one of their latest media releases.
OUTA hired Jeremy Nell, aka ‘Jerm,’ to help in its fight against tax abuse and corruption in Cape Town.
It did not get the reaction it had hoped for:
Why is [OUTA] using the services of a white supremacist cartoonist who pushes far right Race and IQ theories and runs a platform that hosts racist anti-black gollywog cartoons?
and
Honestly [OUTA]? Not sure this is the best look at all. The fellow peddles in controversy and blatantly racist and highly offensive cartoons. And I know we will get the “his political views are unimportant” schtick…but he put himself on a public platform WITH those views.
and more of the like.
OUTA resonded:
OUTA was not aware of this cartoonist’s affiliation/links to racist individuals or platforms. Jerm was asked to compile occasional cartoons to drive our messages in our fight against corruption. Now that this has come to our attention, we will no longer use his services
The Citizen reports:
Self-described as South Africa’s 39th-best cartoonist, Jeremy “Jerm” Nell has been active since 2005 and has been published in the Sunday Times, The Star, City Press, Rapport, Beeld, The Times, FHM, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Daily Maverick, The New Age, EWN and eNCA, to name a few.
His views appear to have moved considerably to the right since he started and his work is currently rarely found in mainstream publications.
Jerm appears to have lobbied to crowd-fund cartoons on race and IQ theory on message boards and seems to be proud of producing work that “no editor or cartoonist wants to go near”.
Jerm has reported links to a number of alt-right groups.
Jerm defends his cartoons. Specific to the cartoon above he says,
After all, if it were racist, then who is it racist towards? The white and black guys being dumber than the Asian guy? No,” he continued.
“That said, it IS true that some population groups show signs of over-achievement, such as in technology or sports. But this isn’t due to race (and IQ) as many people might think, but rather due to environment and culture. And this is researched at length by many people, one being economist and Stanford professor Thomas Sowell (who grew up in Harlem). Stereotypes are generalisations, but they do exist nonetheless,” said the cartoonist.
Much more about Jerm, his activities and views in The Citizen article.
The Daryl Cagle Cartoons site has a Jeremy Nell cartoon archive from 2013 and earlier.
December 7 update:
The South Africa Institute of Race Relations
will partner with cartoonist Jeremy Nell, commonly known as JERM, in 2019 to produce a series of cartoons countering threats to South Africa’s future as a free, open, and prosperous society.
IRR CEO Frans Cronje said: ‘Nell is one of the bravest public commentators in the country. He is provocative and pushes boundaries, which is exactly what a cartoonist is supposed to do. While we do not agree with all his published work, we respect his determination to challenge society and to invite critical responses. The work he produces for us will be commissioned by the IRR and will appear across a range of IRR reports and public commentary.’
Cronje added: ‘We are aware that OUTA this week fired Jeremy Nell in response to a media report that his commentary was racist. We have looked at the evidence, and spoken to Nel, and think his axing was a cowardly and disgraceful act by an organisation that has done much over recent years to stand up against threats, intimidation, and abuses of power.
Read the full SAIRR statement.