Witch Puts Curse on Cartoonist Phil Hands’ Pen…, uh no, not pencil

Phil Hands‘ treatment of Black activists has placed him in penile peril.

*caution: adult language below*

Editorial cartoonist Phil Hands, the Wisconsin State Journal‘s purveyor of meaningfully crooked fingers and Leprechaun Paul Ryans, stuck himself into the debate over abolishing the police with a June 5 cartoon. It suggests Madison non-profit Freedom Inc.’s demands for justice and radical change are rooted in legitimate concerns, but go too far because, as a Black woman in the cartoon suggests, defunding police and releasing people from jail would leave Black people defenseless against white supremacists. 

This latest Hands cartoon was the last straw for Dr. Sami Schalk, a UW-Madison professor of Gender and Women’s studies and an uncompromising commentator on all things dealing with race, gender, disabilities, and sexuality. Schalk wrote a Twitter thread about long-running problems with Hands’ cartoons and started a #FirePhilHands hashtag that has picked up some steam. Schalk also tweeted a response directly to Hands: “Also, how fucking dare you use the BLM hashtag & George Floyd’s name in this. I truly hope a witch curses your dick.”

Subsequently, a witch cursed his dick.

“I set a vague intention of anything bad happening to this guy’s dick—really I’m open to anything ranging from a painful zit to it falling off from gangrene.”

Now the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists is thinking
that its members have something new to worry about.

Tone Madison carries the phallic feature.

Says Phil:

I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about that. It’s a pretty personal attack, but I don’t feel threatened by it, and people are welcomed to criticize my cartoons and my point of view.

hat tip to Jape and the AAEC for the heads up.