Thinking of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, and how they paid the ultimate price for free speech. In 28 years of drawing editorial cartoons I can only think of one instance where a cartoon of mine caused controversy. It was over 20 years ago, during basketball playoffs, when The Pittsfield Saukees were up against the Pleasant Hill Wolves. I drew a cartoon of the Saukee Indians around a campfire bragging how they were going to win, while in the dark background angry wolf eyes were peering at the Indians. Unfortunately my eyes looked more like moths, and the citizens of Pleasant Hill thought I was making a mockery of their team. Letters and phone calls were made to the newspaper. The editor had to follow up the next week with an editorial explaining how the eyes of the wolves proved they were ready to pounce on the Saukees. So the following day enlarged copies of the eyes were taped to the door of the newspaper office, and the Pleasant Hill people used the angry wolf eyes as a rallying cry for victory over Pittsfield. Unfortunately they lost the game, but I escaped unscathed.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 03:32:42 +0000