The Wildcat, The University of Arizona student newspaper, committed a bit of a faux pas this week when it printed a cartoon that joked about killing gay kids.
In it, a father tells a son, “If you ever tell me you’re gay, I will shoot you with my shotgun, roll you up in a carpet and throw you off a bridge.”
“I guess that’s what you call a ‘Fruit Roll Up!'” the son replies.
The two chuckle manically, “Bwah-hah-ha-ha-hah!”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Here’s a tip to budding cartoonists: if you have to dedicate a quarter of your comic strip to clarifying that the preceding panels were a joke, maybe it wasn’t so funny.
It’s hard to imagine how an editor could see this little opus and think, “Mmm, yes, that’s ready for press.” But somehow the piece made it to print, people got upset, and the newspaper is very sorry about that.
The following day The Wildcat printed an apology, referring to the cartoon as something that “some readers felt was homophobic and inappropriate.”
Oh, some readers felt that?
MikeE
there is already a change.org petition to have the staff fired:
http://www.change.org/petitions/daily-wildcat-fire-your-cartoonist-editor-in-chief-and-copy-editor#
hyhybt
The only sort of apology I’d buy as genuine would have been something along the lines of “I can’t believe I let that go to print. That strip is (or was, up to then; you won’t see it again) a regular feature and I guess I just got lazy and didn’t read it yesterday.”
Aidan8
Yeah, that’s pretty bad. Someone forgot what it means to be an editor…
jwrappaport
@MikeE: Just signed your petition and sent a characteristically longwinded, but pointed letter to the editor-in-chief. These people are really unbelievable, more so because some of them actually dare to abdicate personal responsibility because of freedom of speech or a flimsy disclaimer on representation of views. Just imagine if they had made a racist cartoon or an anti-semitic one. But alas, it’s not enough for them that we gays still are unequal before the law.
I miss the southwest every day, but there are times that I actually prefer the Imperial Swamp (AKA DC) to Tucson – this is one such time.
Aidan8
@jwrappaport: “Imperial Swamp” LOL Love that.
jwrappaport
Also, leave a message with the UA President – it takes literally seconds and will let them know that people are pissed off about this, as they should be. (Besides, direct voice contact is much more powerful.)
(520) 621-5511
jwrappaport
@Aidan8: Yup. I’m getting the hell out as soon as law school is over.
Aidan8
@jwrappaport: Ahhh…. 2L? 3L? I’ll send you all my bar prep materials when you need them… Then again, they’re from 12 years ago. Hmmm… has con law changed much in that time? 😉
jwrappaport
2L. I can’t decide if it’s really terrible or if it’s just me. Probably both.
And yes! Con law has changed – Lawrence v. Texas 😉 (and a handful of other bond-dry commerce clause cases to be sure). Though I doubt it changes so frequently with such magnitude as to justify a new $200 casebook every year. They can probably leave 90% of it consistent in the hardback from year to year and just have students buy a paperback supplement with any new cases. Don’t get me started on what a financial scam law schools are.