NY Post - That Apology

After Rev. Al Sharpton-led protests clogged the street in front of the NY Post headquarters, the Post released the following apology - to some:

THAT CARTOON

Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy.

It shows two police officers standing over the chimp's body: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," one officer says.

It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.

Period.

But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism.

This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.

However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.

To them, no apology is due.

Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.

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plez sez: so... the apology was only for people who tend to agree with everything the post publishes? by following that logic, it would seem that the people who tend to agree with everything the post publishes probably weren't offended by the cartoon.

which leads me to the "go to hell" statement for those would seize upon the "opportunity for payback." who would more than likely include MOST of the people who were offended by the cartoon.

which begs the question, why apologize? those who weren't offended haven't sought an apology and they said "eff you" to the ones who were offended. i'm perplexed.

plezWorld is no fan of the ny post... it is too sensational and "over the top." i wasn't particularly offended by the cartoon because it wasn't funny and it completely missed the mark for whatever it was trying to satirize: the wayward chimp with a couple of bullet holes in its chest? barack obama? the simians in congress? nancy pelosi? you can't really tell what the artist was trying to say, which left the entire thing up to speculation... and allegations of racism.

if the caption had read: "they'll have to find someone else to SIGN the next stimulus bill," then the knee-jerk, attention-grubbing crowd (oh yeah, and al sharpton) would've had something to go after. as it reads, it doesn't really point to obama, because he didn't WRITE the stimulus bill!

just speculating here, maybe it had read "sign" and the editor thought that would be too inflammatory, so the artist changed one word... yeah! that's the ticket.

to my way of thinking... "big whup"! who would've guessed that an instrument of rupert murdoch would harbor some racist views?!? come on, ya'll... grow a thicker skin, because i'm guaranteeing a next time!

i don't oppose the cartoon as much as i despise that inept non-apology!

~ ~ Citations ~ ~

Read the mealy mouthed NY Post apology about chimp cartoon.

Read the New York Times take on the NY Post apology.

Read the MSNBC.com article about cartoonists quandry of drawing President Obama without exploiting racial stereotypes.

Read the Yahoo! News article about the NY Post apology.

Read the CNN.com article about the NY Post apology.

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