BOSTON — The Boston Herald and its cartoonist apologized Wednesday for a cartoon that quickly drew criticism on social media for being racist.
A satire on the recent news that an intruder got farther into the White House last month than previously known, the cartoon depicts the intruder sitting in President Obama’s bathtub, asking him if he has tried the “watermelon flavored toothpaste.”
Critics quickly pounced on the watermelon aspect of the cartoon, arguing the cartoonist was playing off a stereotype that African Americans are particularly found of the fruit.
The cartoonist, Jerry Holbert, said on Boston Herald Radio the watermelon reference was inadvertent. He argued he was “naive” about any racial undertones and “wasn’t thinking along those lines at all.”
Holbert said he used the watermelon flavor because he found “kids Colgate watermelon flavor” toothpaste in his bathroom at home.
“I want to apologize to anyone I offended who was hurt by the cartoon,” Holbert said. “It was certainly, absolutely, not my intention.”
The Herald also issued an apology: “His cartoon satirizing the U.S. Secret Service breach at the White House has offended some people and to them we apologize. His choice of imagery was absolutely not meant to be hurtful. We stand by Jerry, who is a veteran cartoonist with the utmost integrity.”
A syndicated version of the cartoon uses the term “raspberry” instead of watermelon. Holbert said the syndicate called him Tuesday night asking if they could change the flavor.
Pressed Wednesday on whether Holbert should have called the Herald after his talk with the syndicate, Holbert said, “I wish I had done that.”
I will be honest. I did not know about watermelons being a racist thing until well into adulthood. I think I maybe even learned about it on the boards years ago. So it's possible for me to believe this story, since there actually is a new watermelon flavored toothpaste, and whether he has children of the age that would use it is a fact that could be verified, so I doubt he made it up.
I think the papers were right to change it. But I buy this guy's story. Particularly because there's absolutely nothing else in the cartoon that would suggest that he meant use of the word in a racial way.
Even if the use of the word was intentional, can someone explain to me why the cartoon is racist?
The way I see it, even if it the toothpaste flavor of watermelon was chosen over, say, bubble gum, simply because Obama is black, then the cartoon to me would be saying, "hey look, the security breach was so bad that this racist nut bag got all the way into Obama's bathroom to harass him" instead of saying, "hey look, the security breach was so bad that this nut bag got all the way into Obama's bathroom to harass him." Either version is not insulting to Obama on account of his race.
It's one of those things that he should have known even if he didn't.
That said, the artist is not poking fun of Obama. He's poking fun of SS and in this context it doesn't seem racist. If anything the intruder is being racist. So the artist is calling bad people racist. That doesn't make the artist a racist. It's not like Obama is asking the intruder if he would like some watermelon toothpaste. That would be racist.
I don't know.
I'm about to go into a meeting so if this blows up, I'll be back later.
I dunno. I get ESF's point, but on the same token given the state of opinions surrounding Obama it's an area that could have easily been avoided ya know what I mean?
It's one of those things that he should have known even if he didn't.
That said, the artist is not poking fun of Obama. He's poking fun of SS and in this context it doesn't seem racist. If anything the intruder is being racist. So the artist is calling bad people racist. That doesn't make the artist a racist. It's not like Obama is asking the intruder if he would like some watermelon toothpaste. That would be racist.
I don't know.
I'm about to go into a meeting so if this blows up, I'll be back later.
Exactly.
I think they were correct to rewrite it because obviously people are looking at it and the first thing that comes to mind is "RACIST", so that's detracting from the point of the cartoon. He should have known that the use of the term may cause a sideshow.
But when you stop to think about it, I don't see how you can come to the conclusion that it is, in fact, actually racist.
If we are going with kevin arnold's point that a cartoonist at his level is a mastermind of subtleties and language, I don't see how we can say on one hand that his sophistication there means that he was aware of the loaded meaning of the word, but on the other, say that the cartoon has no such subtleties about the subject and target of the joke, and it's just "let me put the word watermelon in here cuz its funny cuz he's black, doesn't matter if the rest of the joke doesn't make any sense at all."
If the intruder were black, I'd be on Team Racist.
I dunno. I get ESF's point, but on the same token given the state of opinions surrounding Obama it's an area that could have easily been avoided ya know what I mean?
Right. A poorly thought out cartoon because of it distracts people from the point of the cartoon is different from being a racist cartoon.
If people want to accuse him of being a sloppy cartoonist, that is a certainly a fair criticism.
But the guy is being accused of being racist. I am trying to understand why that is.
Even if the use of the word was intentional, can someone explain to me why the cartoon is racist?
The way I see it, even if it the toothpaste flavor of watermelon was chosen over, say, bubble gum, simply because Obama is black, then the cartoon to me would be saying, "hey look, the security breach was so bad that this racist nut bag got all the way into Obama's bathroom to harass him" instead of saying, "hey look, the security breach was so bad that this nut bag got all the way into Obama's bathroom to harass him." Either version is not insulting to Obama on account of his race.
All I know is that I just got the kids watermelon flavored toothpaste the other day and they have been super excited about it. Lots of extra tooth brushing going on.
Are there such things as Newspaper Editors anymore? Like, shouldn't somebody at the Herald have caught on to this and called this guy?
I just don't see what's so bad about it.
He's calling the white intruder a racist.
I'm not saying they should have blocked it.
I'm saying that somebody along the way should have said, "hmmm", and picked up the phone or sent an email saying "is this saying what you meant it to say?"
...but to be all, "oh, I had no idea!"... weren't there eyes on this before it was published?
ESF - Watermelon harkens back to old political cartoons that often showed blacks as lazy and being easily satisfied with being fed watermelon. I'm out and about, but I'll see if I can find an example.
ESF - Watermelon harkens back to old political cartoons that often showed blacks as lazy and being easily satisfied with being fed watermelon. I'm out and about, but I'll see if I can find an example.
Oh, I know all about this now.
But it was not something I learned or was exposed to in my earlier years on the planet.
All I know is that I just got the kids watermelon flavored toothpaste the other day and they have been super excited about it. Lots of extra tooth brushing going on.
Is it any kind of minty?
My kid hates mint flavored toothpaste.
I'm going with the artist saying the dude who broke into the white house was probably a bit racist.
So I don't care about any of this. Only the watermelon flavored toothpaste because that stuff is important.
All I know is that I just got the kids watermelon flavored toothpaste the other day and they have been super excited about it. Lots of extra tooth brushing going on.
Is it any kind of minty?
My kid hates mint flavored toothpaste.
I'm going with the artist saying the dude who broke into the white house was probably a bit racist.
So I don't care about any of this. Only the watermelon flavored toothpaste because that stuff is important.
I have no idea - I think all kid toothpaste is nasty and I don't try it! Although my kids dislike mint and really like the watermelon ( it's Colgate brand. The red bottle) so I'm guessing it's not minty