Art Speigelman Denounces U.S. Press Hypocrisy For Not Publishing Charlie Hebdo Cartoons

Art Spiegelman has characterized the U.S. press as hypocritical for not publishing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons.

The creator of Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust, said that he “admires” Charlie Hebdo and complimented the satirical magazine for publishing caricatures of Mohammed.

In response to those images, Islamic militants stormed the office of the magazine on Wednesday, killing 12.

The incident led to a demonstration of solidarity with journalists who sometimes risk their lives for their profession.

However, some U.S. media outlets refused to publish the offensive cartoons. That drew the ire of Spiegelman.

“I think it’s so hypocritical to drape yourself in freedom of speech and then self-censor yourself to the point where you are not making your readers understand the issues,” he told AFP.

Spiegelman also believes that at least one of the images published by the magazine has been misinterpreted.

“That cartoon was not making fun of the prophet, it was excoriating the believers who would kill,” he said.

Some of the largest U.S. newspapers, including The New York Times, refused to publish the cartoons. It should be noted that at least two of the controversial images depict Mohammed in the nude. It’s not likely that mainstream newspapers would publish those cartoons in any context.

“We have a standard that is long held and that serves us well: that there is a line between gratuitous insult and satire. Most of these are gratuitous insult,” said Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, defending the decision to not publish the cartoons.

However, that kind of response did not assuage Spiegelman.

“When religion overlaps with social and political issues, it’s necessary to fight back, so Charlie is equally hard on Jews including anti-semitic caricatures and quotes when talking about Israel,” he said. “The equal opportunity insult that came with Charlie Hebdo was the reason it’s estimable.”

Maus tells the story of Spiegelman’s Jewish father’s experience during the Holocaust. The graphic novel’s title is derived from its portrayal of Jews as mice and Nazis as cats. It is the only comic book that, as of this writing, has won a Pulitzer Prize.

[Image credit: Wikipedia]

Art Speigelman Denounces U.S. Press Hypocrisy For Not Publishing Charlie Hebdo Cartoons