livius drusus
09-25-2004, 04:43 PM
Boondocks has gotten pulled from a bunch of papers again this week (http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000641607), this time for a series skewering reality TV, Russell Simmons, Donald Trump and a multitude of racial stereotypes. You can see all of the strips starting here (http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/2004/09/20/). (This one (http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/2004/09/24/) is my personal favorite.)
It seems McGruder's the use of "nigga", even starred, was a huge bone of contention, along with the chicks pulling knives on each other scene and the general lazy/gangsta/pimp/stoner stereotypes. From the article:
Among the papers refusing to run the strip this week are The Washington Post, New York Daily News and Newsday. The Daily News published notices reading, "Boondocks is on vacation and will return on September 27."
A humor columnist for The Washington Post blasted that paper's "pathetically weak and wrong decision" on the comic.
Universal Press Syndicate gave papers a choice of running the strip with the three symbols in the middle of the "N" word, or with symbols for all five letters in the word, or re-running an old strip. The most severely edited version also deletes the knives from the knife fight. This is the version carried by the Los Angeles Times.
Kathie Kerr, director of communications at Universal Press Syndicate, told E&P that at least four papers killed this week's strip entirely. She said that McGruder had not commented, adding that he is "kind of his own wild child" and that this is "not the first time" the "N" word had been used in the strip.
I have to say I was surprised to see the Washington Post and LA Times freak out over this. I wonder if they've had the same reaction to some of Boondock's political controversies or does race flip switches even Bush-bashing in this era of "liberal media" paranoia can't?
It seems McGruder's the use of "nigga", even starred, was a huge bone of contention, along with the chicks pulling knives on each other scene and the general lazy/gangsta/pimp/stoner stereotypes. From the article:
Among the papers refusing to run the strip this week are The Washington Post, New York Daily News and Newsday. The Daily News published notices reading, "Boondocks is on vacation and will return on September 27."
A humor columnist for The Washington Post blasted that paper's "pathetically weak and wrong decision" on the comic.
Universal Press Syndicate gave papers a choice of running the strip with the three symbols in the middle of the "N" word, or with symbols for all five letters in the word, or re-running an old strip. The most severely edited version also deletes the knives from the knife fight. This is the version carried by the Los Angeles Times.
Kathie Kerr, director of communications at Universal Press Syndicate, told E&P that at least four papers killed this week's strip entirely. She said that McGruder had not commented, adding that he is "kind of his own wild child" and that this is "not the first time" the "N" word had been used in the strip.
I have to say I was surprised to see the Washington Post and LA Times freak out over this. I wonder if they've had the same reaction to some of Boondock's political controversies or does race flip switches even Bush-bashing in this era of "liberal media" paranoia can't?