Obama the assassinated chimp?

So I’ve got my hot little hands on a press release from the Austin chapter of the NAACP. Due to the outrage over a New York Post cartoon that slightly compared President Obama to a dead chimp, Newscorp’s chairman Rupert Murdoch (yes he’s my boss, but just wait, soon he’ll be yours too) issued an apology for the gargantuan mistake of publishing that offensive, dirty, awful cartoon.

I have spoken to a number of people and I now better understand the hurt this cartoon has caused. At the same time, I have had conversations with Post editors about the situation and I can assure you – without a doubt – that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation. It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such.

NAACP is calling this apology inadequate because it doesn’t offer any concrete measures for improvement of FOX Corp’s sensitivity.

Nelson Linder, the president of the NAACP’s Austin branch, said the cartoon’s “an invitation to the assassination of the 44th president.” His organization is calling for the termination of the cartoonist, the Post’s editor-in-chief and increased diversity in the newsroom.

FOX 7, a small local tv station thousands of miles away from New York City, is being asked to write a letter to Rupert Murdoch supporting the NAACP’s demand.

We ask KTBC to be good corporate citizens and go on record against this abhorrent display of racism.

All I have to say here is that I’ve never met any staff members of The New York Post. But I have met several at FOX 7. And I know something like that would never be published from our staff. I’m interested to see whether or not our manager will sign the request — and even more interested in seeing just what this group plans to do if the station declines their request. Stay tuned.

Obama the dead chimp?

I’m sure you all heard about the chimp that was shot after mauling a woman earlier this week. (And by mauling, I mean ripping off her face and fingers.) This chimp, Travis, was highly trained; he could dress himself, brush his teeth, drink wine from a stemmed glass and he even starred in commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola. This story is tragic and frightening — the woman who owned the chimp was forced to stab her longtime pet with a butterknife to keep him from attacking her friend. Long story short, the cops showed up and Travis went after them. They hid in their cars, Travis knocked the mirror off a cruiser, got into the car and an officer shot him several times to protect himself.

Today a New York Post editorial cartoon showed a similar scene; one officer shot the chimp while the other says, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

Al Sharpton cried out that the cartoon is racist. In a statement, Post Editor-in-Chief Col Allan said: “The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist.”

So, let me get this straight, this was the most appropriate and relevant news event to use as a comparison to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act? Really? This attempt to get our country back on track can only be compared to a violent, bizarre death of a chimp? Let me know if you think the cartoon’s offensive or not.