It is a more frequent occurrence than you would imagine – an editorial cartoon goes awry from what the cartoonist envisioned. Michael de Adder‘s recent cartoon about the crowded field running for Halifax mayor drew criticism.
The cartoon, by longtime freelance cartoonist Michael de Adder, depicts a bald white man and a monkey sitting next to each other on a sofa.
The man wears a T-shirt with the word “everybody” on the chest, while the animal wears a similar T-shirt with the words “his monkey.”
A newspaper on the floor bears the headline “16 People Running for Mayor,” while a speech bubble above the monkey’s head reads, “Hey — I’m also running for mayor of Halifax.”
On Tuesday, mayoral candidate Darryl Johnson, who is Black, shared the cartoon on Facebook, and wrote that he was “frustrated, disgusted and discouraged that this level of racism is still prevalent in Halifax.”
Back to the CBC:
[de Adder] initially defended the cartoon, writing in a since-deleted post that, “I think this cartoon is clear and I will not apologize. I will not take it back. I stand by this cartoon 100 per cent … Anybody who thinks this cartoon is about one candidate is just wrong. Period.”
He said this was a mistake and that he’d been overly defensive when the cartoon was initially criticized.
“I thought I need to fix this, and rather than get my back up and say, ‘The cartoon isn’t about what you think it’s about,’ it’s better to apologize, because I don’t want anybody to misinterpret my work and I don’t want anybody to be hurt by my work
Michael goes into more detail about the cartoon on his Substack page:
What I didn’t realize was that one candidate, Darryl Johnson, had joined the race late. Johnson is a community specialist with Halifax Public Libraries, bringing 30 years of experience working with youth. He also happens to be Black.
When Johnson saw the cartoon, he didn’t see it as a critique of the number of candidates. Instead, he saw it as an attack on him—a Black candidate running in a predominantly white campaign. He saw everybody as the white candidates and the monkey as him.
Unfortunately, once you see the cartoon through Johnson’s eyes, it’s hard to interpret it any other way.
I had no intention of targeting Johnson with the cartoon, but I now understand why many people perceive it differently. I did apologize to Johnson and explained that it wasn’t about him.
Michael’s column also explains a more humorous cartoon from 20 years ago that also went awry.
to John Lennon for today’s headline
When I saw Michael’s defensive post about this on FB, I had no idea what was going on, but I found out later. I know Michael and drawing a cartoon that’s misinterpreted happens to lots of political cartoonists. He’s not a racist and I believe his explanation.